By Moon Gwang-lip
Staff Reporter
Leaders of the two umbrella union groups in Korea launched a joint hunger strike on Friday, calling on lawmakers to revise a bill on non-regular workers and pass it by late this month.
The dispute is expected to flare up further, as representatives of major business organizations joined forces on Friday in demanding the bill be passed as originally initiated, without being amended.
Lee Soo-ho, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and Lee Yong-deuk, president of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), demanded the bill be revised to improve workers’ rights and be passed in a special parliamentary session in April during a joint press conference before embarking on the hunger strike.
``Lawmakers should adopt the recommendation by the National Human Rights Commission, which asks that the bill be modified to guarantee more rights of non-regular workers and pass it in the Assembly session,’’ they said in the conference in front of the National Assembly in Yoido.
On April 14, the government human rights body recommended the government-initiated bill be revised, saying the bill itself is not enough to do away with discrimination against part-time workers and day laborers.
The commission also suggested that the bill include a clause guaranteeing fair wages for non-regular workers.
It also recommended the insertion of another clause allowing companies to hire part-time workers only if they have a good reason to do so.
The non-regular worker bill, which has been at the center of national conflict among labor groups, employers and the government, is currently pending in the National Assembly.
The labor groups were at first opposed to the bill claiming it would rather lead to an increase in the number of non-regular workers and only serves employers’ interests.
But they changed their attitude since the commission came up with the recommendation and have pushed the government to pass a modified bill in April.
Commenting on the recommendation, the two leaders said in the media conference: ``We think this is a good time for us and we will do whatever we can to work for non-regular workers’ rights in this session.’’
This is the first time the heads of the two major labor organizations have agreed to a joint hunger strike, showing their commitment to resolving this issue.
The two plan to continue the hunger strike until lawmakers make a decision whether to pass the bill or not in April.
Meanwhile, representatives of major business organizations attacked the commission’s announcement.
Representatives of five bodies _ Cho Kun-ho, vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, Lee Su-young, vice chairman of Korea Employers Federation, Park Yong-sung, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kim Jae-chul, chairman of Korea International Trade Association and Kim Yong-gu, chairman of the Korea Federation of Small Businesses, gathered yesterday at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul to talk over the issue and jointly blamed the commission for its intervention.
``The commission’s intervention with the recommendation, which is obviously in favor of the labor groups, has made resolving the issue more difficult by fueling conflict unnecessarily,’’ they said.
They noted that taking the recommendations into consideration might end up making the bill unfavorable to part-time employees as companies would be reluctant to hire non-regular workers and urged the commission to withdraw the announcement.
They also called on lawmakers to pass the bill in its original form, saying, ``lawmakers should not delay the passage of this bill any more, as the ruling party and the government earlier promised the public it would do it by April.’’
Earlier, the business community issued two counter statements on the recommendation.
The government, which is the other party of the tripartite dialogue, has also not budged from its initial stance.
Labor Minister Kim Dae-hwan, who participated in an economic forum in Yoido on Friday, said the ministry will legislate the bill without changing its original framework, hinting there will be little, if any, additional modification.
joseph@koreatimes.co.kr
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