Tripartite committee urged to do more on labor reform

Park Yong-Maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) speaks during a press conference at the Hyundai Hotel in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Tuesday. / Courtesy of KCCI

By Lee Hyo-sik

The government, unions and management shouldn’t remain complacent after reaching a preliminary agreement on how to overhaul Korea’s labor market, the head of the country’s largest business association said Tuesday, urging them to do more.

In a press conference during an annual gathering of heads of regional chambers in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Park Yong-Maan, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), expressed regrets over the recent agreement by the tripartite committee of labor, management and the government.

Park, who is also Doosan Group chairman, said that the nation needs to speed up its labor reform drive, which will benefit workers, companies, job seekers and all others, stressing that it doesn’t have much time.

“Among others, we need to make it easier to hire and dismiss workers and improve working conditions. We can learn from how advanced countries did this in these areas,” the chairman said. “I think labor, management and the government reached a consensus on the need to implement reform steps. But their actions are too slow.”

The three parties agreed to promote a performance-based salary system, reduce working hours and make it easier for employers to hire and dismiss workers. But they are still poles apart on the details.

Park urged the tripartite committee to speed up the negotiation process and finalize reform steps. “We should improve the business environment here so that companies can expand investment and hire more workers. To do so, union, management and the government must work together to overhaul the labor market.”

The chairman then said union and management should be ready to make compromises to reach an agreement.

“No one can have everything he or she wants. This is the basic rule of negotiations,” he said. “I believe labor and management can meet somewhere at a mid-point. I hope that their consensus will help revitalize growth and improve the domestic business environment on a par with that of advanced countries.”