SEOUL– Labor Minister Lee Jeong-sik called for the National Assembly on Monday to reconsider a contentious pro-labor bill restricting damages suits against industrial action, as opposition parties are poised to push it through a parliamentary committee.
The main opposition Democratic Party and the minor opposition Justice Party passed the revision to the Trade Union And Labor Relations Adjustment Act through a parliamentary agenda coordination committee last Friday despite protest from the ruling People Power Party.
The bill is expected to pass through the parliamentary labor committee, as the two opposition parties plan to approve it in a plenary National Assembly session later this month.
The revision is better known as the “yellow envelope bill” after a person donated 47,000 won (US$36) in cash in a yellow envelope to unionized SsangYong Motor Co. workers following a 2013 court ruling that ordered them to pay 4.7 billion won for causing losses in a strike. The bill is also aimed at guaranteeing the bargaining rights of indirectly hired workers.
The labor minister called an emergency press briefing Monday to criticize the revision push and urged the assembly to reconsider the move.
“If labor-management relations worsen and costs from their conflicts increase due to the revision, the impact may wholly translate into corporate losses and falls in investment,” Lee noted.
The minister criticized the envisioned enactment would “shake the foundation of the rule of law,” and argued the bill vaguely defines the scope of indirectly hired workers’ rights of collective bargaining, consequently creating uncertainty and unpredictability for employers.
Lee also voiced concerns the enactment could encourage more labor strikes by “protecting those who cause damage via illegal (labor) activities more than victims.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency