Labor Reform
Conflicts surrounding five labor reform bills are escalating in the National Assembly with the government and the ruling party poised to pass the bills within this year and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) dead set against them.
The five bills refer to the Labor Standards Act, Employment Insurance Act, Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, Dispatched Worker Protection Act and Temporary Workers Act.
Those relating to general dismissal and the guidelines on the rule of employment, which are scheduled to become effective within this year, are becoming more and more intense, too. The FKTU recently criticized Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and the Ministry of Employment & Labor for trying to implement measures with the members of the tripartite committee having yet to reach an agreement. The federation warned that it would withdraw from the committee if the government and the ruling party continued to insist on the issue.
The FKTU is planning to take a vote in order to be opposed to anti-labor candidates during the general elections of next year and the Presidential election scheduled for 2017.
In response, the government and the ruling party are to stick to their plan regarding the five bills. In addition, they are going to move ahead with the legislation procedure without waiting for the federation’s agreement when it comes to those bills less likely to be agreed by the FKTU.