The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
リンク: The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper.
| Minister set to accept labor offer | |||
Labor, management and government are engaged in a last-ditch tug of war over a package of government-led bills which include clauses dropping full-time union officers from company payroll and permitting multiple trade unions at a single company. Recently, business representatives and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, a moderate labor umbrella group, tentatively agreed to the legislation package on condition that those two rules are suspended for an additional five years. However, the deal has been criticized from some quarters for undermining the spirit of labor reforms meant to make industrial relations more transparent and more relevant to the nation's political and economic advancement. To appease opponents, the FKTU last week offered a new compromise, shortening the suspension period to three years from five years. "We can accept the three-year suspension proposal from the FKTU if labor and management agree on other reform tasks and exercise the spirit of a grand compromise to settle the contention," Lee said yesterday on a talk show on KBS 1TV. "The government was originally mulling over suspending the rule on salary payment for full-time unionists for one year to give more time for both sides to prepare themselves for the change," he said. "Now, negotiations are under way over the FKTU's new proposal." But Lee attached a condition that labor and management accept the government's demand on establishing a multiple union system. The labor and business representatives have also agreed to suspend the introduction of the new union system by five years. "We can accept it only when an agreement is reached on establishing a single negotiation channel under a multiple union system," he said. He didn't elaborate on what the government has tabled for the union system during talks with the two sides. The government legally lifted a ban on multiple unions at a single company in 1997 but the implementation has been delayed for a decade due to disagreement from the labor side. The latest government bill stipulates that a single union should represent all the workers in negotiations with management over wages and working conditions. Existing labor unions, apparently concerned about their weakening influence, argue that the matter should be left to the workers and management at each individual company. The labor minister said the government will this week put up an official notice for the labor bills, the first step for enacting government-pushed bills. "The public notice will be made early this week if an agreement is struck. Otherwise, the government will go ahead with the original one-year suspension plan and will make a public notice later this week," he said. The government last week postponed the public announcement of the bills three times as labor unions and businesses continued to bicker over the two controversial clauses. Further complicating the situation, some top government officials also expressed opposition to the labor-management deal during last week's Cabinet meeting, according to Labor Ministry officials. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a more militant segment of union movement, also opposed the compromise, threatening to stage a general strike if the government pushes enactment unilaterally. (christory@heraldm.com) By Cho Chung-un
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