Labor Minister Kim, “Companies Should Reduce Discrimination against Irregular Workers”

On May 20, regarding the irregular workers issue, Labor Minister Kim Dae-hwan stated, “After careful consideration of its manpower and jobs, corporations must move to switch irregular workers needed at all times into regular employees.”

At a press conference this day, Minister Kim asserted, “Though the private sector must act with flexibility since its necessary workforce changes according to the fluctuations within the economy, the excessive unfair treatment (of irregular workers) must be corrected.”

He said, “If one receives 50 percent (of regular workers’) wages after doing the same amount of work, no one will put their best effort in their work. If companies lessen the discrimination against temporary workers through a job analysis, this will ultimately benefit the companies.”

In regard to establishing a social contribution fund of labor and management, Minister Kim explained, “Though it seems that labor and management are at odds with each other at present, I believe they will narrow the gap in opinions. I will put efforts into gathering public opinions on this issue through public hearings, seminars, and discussions.”

He expounded, “Labor unions are changing their original stance and saying they will include a portion of their wages into the fund, and part of management are unofficially claiming that ‘we can discuss the issue if the labor unions show their willingness to curtail wage increases or contribute a portion of wages to the fund’. ”

Ahead of such comments, the labor unions of the four major car companies, under the metal workers union of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, held a press conference on May 19 and proposed, “The companies should contribute five percent of their net profit to form a fund for industrial development and social contributions.”

However, an official of Korea Employers Federation claimed “Distributing a company’s net profit can only be done under the shareholders’ authority. We are willing to discuss this issue only if the labor unions refrain from calling for wage increases.”

Jong-Hoon Lee taylor55@donga.com