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'Tripartite talks essential for labor reform'
Kim Dae-hwan
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
Resuming the stalled Tripartite Commission negotiations is the key to labor market reform, the chief of the commission said Friday.
Kim Dae-hwan, who tendered his resignation from the post in April after the negotiations broke down, has returned to the position.
His return came one day after President Park Geun-hye highlighted the urgency of labor market reform during a national address. Park asked him to retake the post to complete the reform drive, an offer he accepted.
The talks fell apart in early April after the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), the representatives of labor, pulled out, saying it could not accept some of the government and management proposals, such as easing rules for layoffs and changing employment conditions.
“I am willing to come up with a settlement plan accommodating the labor representatives’ demands, if they decide to come back to the negotiating table,” Kim said during a press briefing in Seoul.
While the FKTU recently said it would return to the table if the government excludes the two issues from the talks, Kim said the issues should be solved “within the tripartite dialogue framework, not outside.”
“The commission couldn’t discuss the issues fully by April. We hope to continue the discussion in detail if the talks resume,” he said.
Kim said that labor market reform is not optional but essential for the nation’s development, pledging he will be a fair arbitrator so that neither labor nor management will feel slighted.
The original negotiation began in December.
The trade union opposed easing rules to layoff regular workers for poor performance or negligence, saying this would make job security more unstable and that there were already other rules that could be used to dismiss underperforming or negligent workers. But businesses and the government have argued the proposal would make clear the rules for dismissal to prevent possible disputes.
It is also protested the peak wage system, under which employees over a certain age will have their salary cut, saying it will push workers to retire sooner. The government says the new system will help tackle the high unemployment rate among young adults, which was 10.2 percent in June for those between 15 and 29 years of age, the highest rate in 16 years.