Labor Ministry to offer subsidies for non-union and younger workers

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it would cut government subsidies for the existing labor unions and earmark half the entire budget to non-union employees and newly formed labor organizations casually dubbed “the MZ labor unions.” Labor unions that fail to provide transparency of accounting data will be excluded from the list.

The labor ministry made such an announcement on Thursday in a 2023 revised plan on support projects for labor unions. The administrative notice will be made within this month, with the official public announcement slated for March.

Under the revised plan, the scope of support has been expanded from “labor unions” to “laborer organizations in general” under union law. Until last year, the recipients of subsidies were confined to the labor unions that formally filed a registration of establishment with the city or municipal governments, such as “the general association labor unions and regional headquarters, industrial unions, union by industry, and small-and medium-sized unions.” Under the revamped plan, labor groups such as organizations of non-regular and platform workers as well as labor consultative bodies by region or industry have become eligible for the subsidies.

The labor ministry has decided to earmark a separate subsidy for the new recipients. Half the budget of 4.4 billion won, or 2.2 billion won, will go to the newly selected organizations.

This means not only the groups of non-union employees but the labor unions of relatively younger employees or the “MZ labor unions” can also receive the subsidies.

The ministry has reaffirmed that the labor unions that do not submit documents to prove whether account books and related documents are provided and preserved will be ineligible for financial assistance.


Mee-Jee Lee image@donga.com