▲ Yang Kyung-soo, Chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), speaks during a press conference held at the KCTU office in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 10th, regarding the assessment of the first year of the Lee Jae-myung administration.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has assessed the labor sector's progress during the first year of the Lee Jae-myung administration as "legislative progress, delayed implementation, and avoidance of structural reform."
Lee Chang-geun, a researcher at the KCTU-affiliated Democratic Labor Research Institute, stated this during a forum titled "One Year of the Lee Jae-myung Administration: Labor Policy Assessment and Tasks," held today (June 24) at the KCTU education center in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Regarding the "Yellow Envelope Act" implemented under the Lee Jae-myung administration, the researcher evaluated it as "a result of a 20-year struggle and a significant step forward that shakes the legal and institutional foundations of enterprise-based labor relations." However, he pointed out that "due to the enforcement decree designed to unify bargaining channels for subcontracted unions at the prime contractor level, the substantive bargaining rights of subcontracted unions could be blocked once again."
The researcher criticized the administration, saying, "Although the President personally declared a 'war on industrial accidents,' giving labor safety the highest political priority ever, provisions such as guaranteeing paid union activity time and ensuring the effective right to stop work are missing."
KCTU Chairman Yang Kyung-soo noted, "While there has been some institutional progress, such as the revision of the Trade Union Act, the number of employers willing to engage in bargaining remains minimal." He added, "Real wages have remained stagnant over the past five years, and the majority of workers who lose their lives at industrial accident sites are still subcontracted workers."
During the forum, participants continued to voice concerns that labor-friendly policies are not being felt on the ground.
Lee Seung-chul, Policy Planning Director of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union, criticized the administration, stating, "Public sector labor policies are repeatedly regressing as they move from presidential campaign pledges to national policy tasks, and from national policy tasks to implementation."
Director Lee specifically argued that "the government has encouraged public institutions to avoid bargaining by issuing interpretive guidelines stating that 'working conditions determined by laws, ordinances, and budgets are not subject to negotiation.'"
Lee Joo-hwan, Vice Director of the Korea Labor & Society Institute, diagnosed that "the limitation remains that the administration still views workers only as beneficiaries of policy rather than as subjects of power."
Professor Jung Heung-jun of Seoul National University of Science and Technology, who served as a presenter, predicted that "the 2028 general election will be the biggest variable in the remaining four years of the Lee Jae-myung administration," adding that "conflicts will continue over the balance between economic growth and labor protection."
Professor Jung proposed future tasks, including institutional improvements such as the unification of bargaining channels, the policy implementation of the Basic Act for Working People and the worker presumption system, the application of labor relations laws to workplaces with fewer than five employees, and the improvement of the fixed-term worker system.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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