By Kim Rahn
Labor strife is expected to worsen next year as the result of the gloomy business outlook and the government’s move to make it easier to lay off permanent workers.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) have reacted furiously to Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan’s plan to bring flexibility to the labor market.
The two umbrella groups claimed Choi was trying to set regular workers against non-regular employees in a bid to weaken the labor movement.
“Choi said businesses prefer non-regular workers due to overprotection of regular workers, but this is an attempt to cause conflict between regular and non-regular employees,” the FKTU said in a statement.
It said the government’s claim that Korea’s labor market was more inflexible than other OECD countries was false — Korean workers’ average length of service was 5.1 years, about half the OECD average of 10 years, and temporary workers made up 23.8 percent of employees, twice the 11.8 percent OECD average, according to the union.
“The government should stop the move to make layoffs easier citing labor inflexibility. If it pushes ahead with it, we’ll set off a massive anti-government struggle.”
The KCTU said the government was trying to weaken workers’ job stability, and that this was unacceptable.
“As long as the government considers this approach, talks among labor, management and government will be meaningless and impossible,” it said. “The government will have to prepare for a serious clash among the three parties.”
Businesses were positive about the reform plan, but said they needed to see the details.
“Various labor factors affect companies such as ordinary wages, reduced working hours and extending the retirement age,” a Korea Employers’ Federation official said. “Once companies hire regular workers, it is difficult to dismiss them because they are overprotected. That’s why companies are reluctant to hire new people.”