By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter


The nation’s unionized workers accounted for only 11.6 percent of the nation’s total workforce last year, the lowest level ever recorded, the Labor Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The unionization rate decreased from the 12 percent in 2001 and is lower than the previous low of 11.9 percent in 1999.

According to the ministry’s statistics, the percentage is far lower than the 38.4 percent in Taiwan, 29 percent in Britain, 22.3 percent in Germany and 20.2 percent in Japan.

Union membership reached its peak in 1989 at 19.8 percent, but has been falling in recent years as the growth rate of salaried workers surpassed the increase in union members, officials said.

Union representatives added that the rapid increase of irregular workers is the main reason for the falling proportion of unionists.

``As irregular workers suffer from unstable employment, the majority cannot even think of forming a union. Although irregular workers account for 52 percent of the total work force, only 2.4 percent are engaged in union activities,’’ said Sohn Nark-koo, spokesman for Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).

Salaried workers here refer to all regular and irregular workers excluding public officials and the self-employed.

The number of unionized workers was estimated at 1.6 million in 2002, up 2.4 percent from the 1.56 million the year before.

The nation’s largest umbrella labor union, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), posted a total of 876,889 members across the nation, down 0.1 percent from the year before and accounting for 54.6 percent of all unionized workers.

The more progressive KCTU, meanwhile, saw its members increase by 6.5 percent to 685,147, taking up 42.7 percent of total union membership.

A total of 6,506 labor unions are operating in the country, with 4,063 belonging to FKTU and 1,529 affiliated with KCTU. The other 914 unions chose to not join either of the two umbrella unions.

Unions with more than 500 members totaled 425 and covered 72.5 percent of all unionized workers.