Kim Ji-hyung, chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, said on the 6th that the council is prepared to discuss all three conditions the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has set for returning to social dialogue, including running the body on a consensus basis. Kim said the council is "ready to begin close consultations with responsible parties representing labor, management and the government," and called on the KCTU to join the talks. The KCTU, which withdrew in 1999 from the Tripartite Commission, the council's predecessor, holds an extraordinary delegates' meeting on the 7th to decide whether to return to social dialogue after 27 years. It has set out three preconditions: operating the council by consensus, allowing industry-level unions to take part, and changing the council's name.
It would be welcome news if the KCTU's participation opened the way for social dialogue. The agenda for this round of talks was selected through public deliberation. The items include redesigning job classifications, working hours and compensation systems, cooperation across generations, the spread of flexible work arrangements, and creating workplace conditions suited to different stages of life. The KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) are also holding single-issue talks tied to the three mega special zones, covering exemptions from the 52-hour workweek for research and development staff, an expansion of the flexible-hours system, and longer terms for fixed-term employment. With major economies waging a contest for supremacy in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics — industries on which they have staked their national futures — raising labor flexibility through dialogue between labor and management is a task of the times.
For social dialogue to succeed, the two umbrella labor groups must show they are sincere about taking part. They must not repeat the old pattern of showing no good faith in talks meant to produce solutions, restating their own demands and then walking out and breaking up the table. The "consensus" rule they have set as a precondition amounts to a veto: even if the government and companies put forward reasonable measures to make labor markets more flexible, the unions could reject anything not to their liking. Allowing industry-level unions to take part could easily become a device that further entrenches the privileges of workers at large companies while sidelining young people and non-unionized workers. That is why the council must not accept the KCTU's demands without question.
What matters is the government's resolve and its ability to carry out policy. It must not make the mistake of losing its bearings on labor flexibility out of a fixation on the atmosphere and the appearance of having brought the two labor groups to the table. It must not be dragged along by one-sided union demands; instead it should draw up reasonable measures and show that it can persuade the unions. This round of social dialogue must not be allowed to delay labor flexibility or to degenerate into a bargaining tool for stalling.
