KCCI Chairman Park Says, "Labor Strike is Not Scary"

With the political and the labor sector confronting fiercely about revision on the labor standards act regarding the five day work week system, politicians reaffirmed that it will not accept any amendments to the governmental proposal which is currently pending in the parliament.

Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) chairman Park, Yong-sung held an emergence press briefing on Aug.18, and said, “The proposal itself was a compromise. We can never accept the revision by the Environment & Labor Committee of the government proposal.”

About the labor strike against the five-day workweek system that is scheduled for Aug. 19, Chairman Park said, “We came to this situation as businesses were afraid of a walkout that they only responded with makeshift solutions.” He stressed, “the management should not get frightened at `chaos`, and deal with the issue with strong resolution.”

He also said, “walkouts should occur and inflict inconvenience. Only then, the public will realize that `it not somebody else`s problem` and it will help the situation settle in any directions,” and he severely criticized the labor sector unprecedentedly saying, “The labor sector should be ready to take all the responsibilities regarding the illegal walkout.” Chairman Park said, “if the five-day workweek system is not passed in an extra session of the National Assembly in August, there is great possibility that we will never be able to pass the bill as other issues such as the inspection of the administration and general election are waiting in the line.” He added, “This extra session of the National Assembly will be the last opportunity to prepare a bill on the five-day workweek system.”

Meanwhile, was planning to hold the general meeting and a sub-committee meeting on the bill examination, and to examine the bill. However, it failed to hold meetings as the government party and the opposition party conflicted on issues such as maintaining the wage level, adjusting the days of vacation and when to implement the system.

Thus, the National Assembly`s plan to deal with the five-day workweek bill by holding a plenary session on Aug.20 might stumble.

The Environment & Labor Committee members had a non-official meeting in the chairman`s room of the committee, and discussed about core issues of the system and the schedule for decision-making, but failed to reach a consensus. Lawmaker Park, Hyuk-gyu, the secretary-general of the committee, proposed not to hold a discussion at the general meeting but to passed the bill directly to the sub-committee on bill deliberation in the original form of the governmental bill as it was submitted in last Oct. Meanwhile some Millenium Democratic Party members demanded amendments to the bill.

The Grand National Party is scheduled to hold a general meeting of lawmakers on Aug.19, in the morning, to determine the party opinion on the five-day workweek system.

If the ruling and the opposition party reach a consensus, the bill can pass the plenary session of the National Assembly on Aug.20. Still, experts say that the possibility is very low.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions held a joint press briefing on Aug.18, in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, and announced that they will stage an `all-out struggle` against the movement in the National Assembly to deal with the bill quickly, by staging a general strike with a time limit.

The general strike of the two labor organizations will only occur surrounding workplaces that are having conflicts related to collective bargaining rights and current wage level, like Kia Motors, so its repercussions will not be great.

The two groups said, “The five-day workweek bill should be passed after reaching a consensus among stakeholders through constant discussions,” and went on to say, “if the political sector carries the proposal forward unilaterally, we will win the five-day workweek system in favorable conditions in individual workplaces through collective bargaining.”