2023-04-20 20:00:09
Soon, it will be one year since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. Since the inauguration of the president, ‘labor reform’ has become the core of the national agenda. The President is emphasizing labor reform as one of the three major reforms. However, in his inauguration speech in May of last year, he did not mention ‘labor’ even once. It seems like the first time in 20 years. However, at a press conference on the 100th day of his inauguration, he declared, “I will not tolerate illegal acts, regardless of labor and management, in order to eradicate illegal acts at industrial sites as a practice.” At the end of last year, the president even mentioned “corruption in public office, corruption in corporations, and corruption in unions as the three major corruptions that our society needs to eradicate.” It is ‘hatred’ beyond ‘stigmatization’ of labor unions, and can only be seen as the use of political strategies in state administration.
Kim Jong-jin, Director of the Working Citizen Research Institute, Chairman of the Union Center
What is the perception and attitude of the people towards labor unions? One of the negative perceptions is the grouping of self-interests such as wage hikes and job security. Sometimes, criticism is raised for political remarks. In particular, unlike the improvement of equal rights or basic labor rights, the level of consent is low for collective actions such as strikes. On the other hand, the majority of the people think that unions should not be disadvantaged as well as the need for unions (79.6%). This is because they have the perception that unions contribute to reducing inequality in our society. Of course, there are also a lot of reprimands and criticisms against the union. They are calling for more efforts to reform not only organized labor but also social systems such as protection of the vulnerable and social security. Recent survey results also confirm that the public has expectations about the social role of unions.
If so, the function and role of unions should also be reviewed. There are not a few papers at home and abroad that reveal the positive influence of labor unions. Above all, unions contribute to reducing social and economic inequality. We are working hard to resolve the low wages and discrimination in the polarized labor market as well as the gap. A rise in union membership and organization rates (10 percentage points) in the region not only increases the wages of non-union members (5%), but also promotes the alleviation of working poverty. In particular, it is a verified result that those who apply the minimum wage have a higher rate of escaping from working poverty than those who do not apply (7.4 percentage points). During the COVID-19 pandemic, workers at non-union workplaces were notified of more layoffs and recommended resignations.
Unions contribute to the safety and health of workers and to the life and rest of workers at work. The 600 deaths each year confirmed through industrial accident investigations do not properly reflect the reality that one worker loses his or her life every three hours and is injured every five minutes. Union activity has an impact on reducing fatalities in hazardous working conditions and long working hours. In fact, a 1 percentage point increase in the unionization rate was found to reduce industrial accidents (0.7 percentage points) and concealment rates (4.1 percent). It was because of the struggles and efforts of the labor union and activists that the problems of occupational diseases that were covered up in the process of making profits, such as asbestos lung disease, blood cancer, and musculoskeletal disorders, were raised and recognized.
In addition, unions have changed the irrational reality of the workplace over the past few decades, and have made considerable changes in various parts of Korean society. From the installation of chairs in distribution stores to the improvement of security lounges in apartments, the issue of death from overwork in courier and logistics centers, and platform labor, one of the subjects that led to social consensus is the union. Recently, unions have played a significant role in reducing excessive work and eliminating discrimination in the workplace, such as standard contracts for broadcasting freelancers, improvement of comprehensive wages in the IT industry, hospital shift system and manpower expansion, and safe freight rate system for cargo unions. It was labor and civil society, not capital and the state, that resisted unfair realities such as sexual harassment, bullying, emotional labor, and demands for the right to rest when sick, and demanded legislation.
More efforts are needed to restore dignity in the workplace and be recognized as agents of new change. Unions should play an active role in improving their economic and social status, improving inhumane working conditions, monitoring and checking corporations and the state, and promoting social solidarity and community. On May 1 of this year, imagine the scenery of the ‘May Day’ event site. For ‘quality of life’ and ‘equal labor’, not so-called ’69-hour work’ and ‘differential application of the minimum wage by industry’.
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