By Kim Bo-eun
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of Korea’s two umbrella unions, said Thursday it will participate in President Moon Jae-in’s job committee.
The union’s participation in a central government-affiliated committee comes 18 years since it withdrew from a tripartite commission of labor, management and government in February 1999.
“Through the union’s participation in the committee, we will play our role as the representative of 20 million workers to resolve inequality and polarization by putting an end to deep-rooted bad practices and carrying out the call for reform in the labor sector,” the union said in a statement the same day.
The union is expected to make its voice heard on issues such as abolishing irregular positions, cutting working hours and raising the minimum wage.
It stressed the importance of establishing democratic labor-government and labor-management relations, and urged the government to present its stance and plans in regular government-labor negotiations.
Regarding its return to the Minimum Wage Committee, the union said it would make its decision based on the stance of the government and ruling party with regards to its demands. These include raising the hourly minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2018 and revising the law to strengthen punitive measures for violations of the minimum wage act.
Considering that the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) will attend the third meeting slated for June 15, the KCTU is likely to take part.
The first two meetings fell through due to a boycott by labor representatives.
The minimum wage committee is comprised of labor, management and government representatives.