Unions say labor guidelines violate law and constitution

By Jhoo Dong-chan

The nation’s two umbrella unions have demanded that the National Human Rights Commission review whether the government’s two proposed administrative labor guidelines are in violation of the Labor Standards Act and the Constitution.

Representatives from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) filed a petition with the commission, Tuesday.

Their joint action comes as the government pushed ahead with the guidelines earlier last month. Under the guidelines, companies can dismiss underperforming workers and arbitrarily change the rules of employment without the consent of employees.

“Employers cannot unilaterally evaluate workers’ performances in order to fire them at will or change employment rules without the workers’ consent. Such actions are not allowed based on the Labor Standards Act,” KCTU vice chairman Kim Jong-in said during a press conference in front of the commission’s office in central Seoul.

“It is a criminal act to apply the administrative guidelines.”

In a joint statement, the two groups said, “We declare that the guidelines are against the Constitution and illegal, thus are invalid.”

Kim said that the commission is responsible for investigating employers who push ahead with the guidelines and violate workers’ labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Unlike labor bills that require approval at the National Assembly, administrative guidelines can be unilaterally implemented by the government without legislation.

As the government announced the draft of the guidelines on Dec. 30, the FKTU, which had taken part in the tripartite talks for labor market reform, gave the government an ultimatum for a total reassessment of the guidelines on Jan. 11.

But the government did not accept this, and the FKTU officially withdrew from the negotiations on Jan. 19. The government then finalized the guidelines on Jan. 22 and put them into effect on Jan. 25 without the consent of the labor sector.

“The Ministry of Personnel Management has already announced a plan to fire some of its underperforming workers based on the performance evaluation,” an FKTU official said.

“The government makes public servants the scapegoats for its administrative guidelines. And it is obvious that employers in the private sector will abuse the guidelines to fire workers. The FKTU and the KCTU will continue the struggle until the government nullifies them.”

The KCTU has already started an all-out struggle and pledged a massive walkout, and the FKTU said it would join the former if the situation does not change.

If the FKTU joins the struggle, it will be the first time for both umbrella unions to stage a walkout together since 1998 during the IMF bailout program.

A total of 1.47 million workers are registered with the two unions: 630,000 members with the KCTU and 840,000 with the FKTU.