Gov’t to Overhaul Labor Rules
Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The government will overhaul labor-related rules from scratch to make them ``better'' for both labor and management, the Ministry of Labor said Monday.
Work related disputes will be left to unions and management to sort out, while labor laws and other regulations will be overhauled to ``fit international standards,'' in line with President Lee Myung-bak's motto of business-friendliness and pragmatism, the ministry said.
``We are going to overhaul labor rules thoroughly. Once the results come out, we will implement necessary action plans for better relations between labor and management,'' Labor Minister Lee Young-hee said.
He said the labor reform will ultimately contribute to creating more jobs and easing conflicts between labor and management.
Vice Labor Minister Chung Chong-soo will form a task force consisting of workers and management as well as experts, to map out specific plans by August when articles not involving law revisions will come into effect. A group of experts will screen plans conceived by the task force.
The ministry said the most urgent thing will be to amend restrictions on employment rules. Among those to be revised are rules on jobless people joining non-workplace unions; the employment permit system for foreign nationals; restructuring job training institutions and imposing fines for violations of the Labor Law.
However, the ministry said the framework to guarantee the rights of workers will remain. ``It will be a `better regulation' than `deregulation.' We will focus on the quality of the rules,'' Song Young-jung, the ministry spokesman, said.