Labor groups, business groups and the government are accelerating social dialogue on labor exemption clauses to be included in a special law on a semiconductor mega cluster.
The three parties plan to hold a working-level consultation as early as this week bringing together participants in the dialogue, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said on the 21st. "We are coordinating a specific schedule with the participants," a ministry official said. "Full social dialogue will proceed after the working-level consultation."
The dialogue, initiated at the government's proposal, is moving quickly. The parties held their first preliminary consultation on the 18th, three days after the government formally proposed talks on the 15th. That meeting drew deputy-level officials from labor and business, including the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Korea Enterprises Federation and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The government was represented by vice ministers from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, along with a standing member of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, the country's social dialogue body.
Once substantive discussions begin after the working-level consultation, however, considerable friction is expected between labor and management over the details of the exemptions. Business groups argue the exemptions are unavoidable to secure research and development competitiveness in the semiconductor industry. Labor groups oppose them, citing concerns over longer working hours and infringement of labor rights. Measures currently under discussion include a "white-collar exemption" that would exclude highly paid professionals from working-hour regulations and a two-year extension of the permitted employment period for fixed-term workers.
