By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
A tripartite panel involving representatives of the government, management and labor unions failed to reach an agreement on disputed issues, dimming the prospect for a compromise between political parties on the proposed revision of labor laws this year, officials said Sunday.
The panel held four rounds of negotiations last week, but failed to find common ground on the proposed measures to ban companies from paying full-time union leaders and allow multiple unions within the same company.
The National Assembly Committee of Environment and Labor, headed by Rep. Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party, plans to hold an extraordinary session Monday to discuss the revision, but observers say a breakthrough is unlikely.
Parties earlier set the Dec. 28 deadline to reach a compromise on the controversial issues and submit a revision bill late this month.
"At the moment, it appears to be unlikely that the parties will meet the deadline due to wide differences over the thorny measures," a Labor Ministry spokesman said.
Choo urged parties Saturday to hold further discussions next year, indicating that she will oppose a revision bill if it is not backed by unions and opposition parties. The governing Grand National Party has criticized Choo for hindering the negotiations for the revision.
The government revised the Labor Law in 1996 to ban salaries for full-time union officials and permit multiple unions in a single company.
It has failed to implement the law due to strong resistance from unions, but Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee said in October that the government will put into effect the law next year in a bid to improve labor-management relations.