Labor union urges conglomerates to join talks on labor bills

The country`s umbrella labor union urged conglomerates Wednesday to participate in fractious negotiations over legal revisions the government plans to enforce from next year, the Yonhap said.



The first round of six-way talks, involving two representatives each from labor, government and management, last month ended without any tangible progress on the pending labor bills that would recognize only one union at a workplace as a negotiating partner of company management and ban wages for full-time unionists.



The participants set Nov. 25 as the deadline for the negotiations. Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee last week said the government will push ahead with the implementation of the revisions from January as initially planned if the negotiations fail.



Unionists argue the government`s revisions encroach on their labor rights. The decision whether to pay full-time unionists, for example, should be up to the unions, they say. The government demands the unions adhere to a no work, no pay principle.



"The negotiations have made little headway because conglomerates who hold the key to the problem are using the government as a front to insist only on their interests. If the heads of the conglomerates engage in direct negotiations, we can expect substantive results," the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said in a statement.