FKTU Korea Press Conference for World Day for Decent Work

FKTU

Activity1: Press conference/street march (10.30-12.00, 7 Oct 2008)

Activity2: International symposium Contact: In-duk Lee, International Director, FKTU, Korea +82 2 6277 0084, fktu@korea.com

The FKTU is planning to hold a press conference for the promotion of decent work for all in front of the National Assembly in the morning of October 7. During the press conference, three sub-themes will be highlighted: Job security, fundamental workers’ rights and equality. The press conference will be followed by a street march which is aiming at raising awareness on decent work and garnering support for the campaign from the general public.

The second activity is the International Seminar on the Effectiveness of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea and Further Legislative Reforms which will take place on 17 October. The objective of the Seminar is to come up with recommendations for legislative reform for better protection of non-regular workers in order for them to enjoy decent work and decent lives.

1. Title of Activities

 FKTU press conference and street march for decent work for all

2. Time / Venue / Participants

• Time: 11.00-12.20, Tuesday, 7 October 2008
• Venue: In front of the National Assembly Building
• Participants: approx. 200 persons including officials from FKTU and its industrial affiliates as well as union members

3. Sub-themes

• Job security: To secure job security through resolving non-regular worker issues and blocking the government-led public sector restructuring
• Fundamental workers’ rights: To promote rights at work through resolving the issues of union pluralism at enterprise level and wage payment to full-time union officials
• Equality: To promote equality through the elimination of poverty, under employment and gender discrimination,

4. Program

1) Part 1: Press conference

• Background of the WDDW (Baek, Hun-ki, General Secretary, FKTU)
• Press statement (Jang, Seok-chun, President, FKTU)
• Resolution

2) Part 2: Street march

• National Assembly -> Yoido Subway Station-> FKTU Headquarters

1. Title

International Seminar on the Effectiveness of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea and Further Legislative Reforms

2. Objectives

• To examine the effectiveness of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea and investigate the impact of this law on employment and employment conditions.
• To diagnose non-regular employment in Korea in the light of international labour standards.
• To examine recent global trends in this field and share legislative and policy experiences of major OECD countries, in particular Germany and Japan.
• To come up with recommendations for legislative reform for better protection of non-regular workers and the expansion of regular employment.

3. Background and Justification

The first of July this year marked the 1st anniversary of the enforcement of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea. However, there are sharp disagreements on the effectiveness of the law between labour and management as well as in labour circles.

Some people have maintained negative views towards the law, claiming that job security of non-regular workers has been undermined since the enforcement of the law as more and more non-regular workers were denied the renewal of their contracts or were forced to change their status to that of sub-contracted workers.

On the other hand, there are some positive assessments of the law in that the employment situation is showing signs of improvement with some non-regular workers obtaining the status of regular workers since the law took effect in July 2007.

This issue has also been one of the top priorities in the 18th National Assembly. For this reason too, it is urgent to conduct exact assessments on the effectiveness of the law and come up with solutions and recommendations for future legislative reforms. The assessments should be made in light of international labour standards and based on careful consideration of global trends and the experiences of other OECD countries.

4. Date/Venue/Organizer/Sponsor

• Time and Date: Friday 17 Oct 2008
• Venue: Seoul Garden Hotel
• Organizer: The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU)
• Sponsor: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES)

5. Expected Participants

• FKTU officials and members, labour experts, activists from related NGOs, etc.)

6. Programme

9:00 - 9:30 Registration

9:30 - 10:00 Opening & Welcome speeches - Jang, Seok-chun, President, FKTU

• Werner Kamppeter, Representative, FES Korea Cooperation Office
• Moderator: Lee, Kwang-taek, Professor, Dept. of Law, Kookmin University

10:00 - 10:30 Presentation 1: “The effectiveness of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea and directions for legislative reforms. Proposals for reform”

• Chun, Yun-ku, Professor, Dept. of Law, Gyeonggi University

10:30 - 11:00 Presentation 2: “A Diagnosis of non-regular employment situations in Korea in light of international labour standards and labour laws Recommendations for legislative reform”

• Lee, Chang-hee, Senior Specialist on Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue, ILO Beijing Office

11:10 – 12:00 Wrap-up and Discussion “Effectiveness of the new Labour Law and potential legislative reforms.”

• Comments by specialists of the afternoon session
• Questions from other participants.

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 - 14:00 Presentation 3: “Legislation and policies for the protection of non-regular workers and employment policies in Germany and other EU countries. Recommendations for legislative reform”
 Bernd WAAS, Professor, Dept. of Law, University Hagen

14:00 - 14:30 Presentation 4 : “The situations of non-regular employment in Japan and legislative arrangements. Recommendations for legislative reform”

• Hiromasa Suzuki, Professor, Labor Economics, School of Commerce, Waseda University

14:40 - 15:50 Panel Discussion

• Kim, Jong-gak, Executive Director, Policy Bureau, FKTU
• Choi, Jae-hwang, Managing Director, Korea Employers’ Federation (KEF)
• Lee, Ki-kwon, Director, Ministry of Labour (MOL)

16:00 - 17:30 General Discussion “Recommendations for employment policies and legislative reform”

• Statements by experts (presentations 1-4) (5-10 minutes each)
• General Discussion Closing

FKTU Reaffirms Its Commitment to Decent Work
 Press Conference and Street March held on WDDW

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) held a press conference with the aim of promoting decent work for all in front of the National Assembly in the morning of October 7.

During the press conference which was held as part of World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) activities, the FKTU affirmed its commitment to the international efforts to achieve decent work by promoting rights at work, strengthening solidarity, and ending poverty and inequality through strategic combination of struggle and dialogue

First of all, the FKTU pointed out that the Korean society has been more and more polarized and people’s livelihood has been further threatened due to the burgeoning of flexible labor and inhumane discrimination against non-regular workers.

Especially, the FKTU strongly condemned the labor minister’s recent plan to make an amendment to the Law on Non-regular Work in order to extend the maximum duration of service of an employee on a fixed-term contract to 4 years from the current 2 years, criticizing that it could increase the number of non-regular workers because employers will try to hire more and more non-regular workers and terminate their contract just before their fixed-term contracts end.

In this regard, the FKTU stressed, “The government should take drastic measures to eliminate discrimination against non-regular workers through concerted efforts such as changing their status to regular one, increasing the level of heir wages and expanding social protection for them.

The FKTU also pointed out that the government’s restructuring plan for the public sector has been pushed ahead under the pretext of the Advancement of the Public Sector. It denounced the plan for having focusing on arbitrary layoffs and ignoring the original aim of the revitalization of the economy.

With regard to the two biggest issues of union pluralism at enterprise level and remuneration to full-time union officials, the FKTU highlighted the importance of social dialogue, by saying “Reasonable solutions should be sought through genuine social dialogue because the two issues will have profound impacts on the Korean trade union movement.”

The FKTU went on to stress, “Our positions on the issues are apparent. If union pluralism at enterprise level is allowed in line with internationally recognized labor standards, a single bargaining channel should not be forced by the law. The matter on remunerating union leaders should also be left to the discretion of negotiations between the employer and union. If the government continuously ignores our demands, we have no option but to stage all-out struggles.”

In this regard, the FKTU proposed the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) to actively participate in the social dialogue which is expected to start soon, emphasizing that these are the issues that should be resolved through joint action between the two national centers.

The FKTU also expressed its strong commitment to international solidarity under the umbrella of the ITUC as well as continued cooperation with all democratic forces in Korea.

Finally it urged the government and employers to resolve some other urgent issues: alleviation of gap between large enterprises and small and medium sized enterprises, establishment of fair trade practice between original contractors and sub-contractors, full implementation of CSR, elimination of all types of discrimination based on gender, age, disability, etc.

The press conference was followed by a street march which was aiming at raising awareness on decent work and garnering support for the campaign from the general public.

The FKTU is planning to hold the second round of WDDW activities next week. The International Seminar on the Effectiveness of the Law on Non-regular Work in Korea and Further Legislative Reforms will be held on 17 October. The objective of the Seminar is to come up with recommendations for legislative reform for better protection of non-regular workers in order for them to enjoy decent work and decent lives.

KCTU
The main slogan will be "Abolition of precarious work and all forms of discrimination".

KCTU will organize a rally including press conference on 2:00 pm, October 7th. The rally will be held in front of the Government Complex or central area of Seoul. We expect that around 1,000 union member will gather in this rally. In this rally, we will raise the issue of precarious workers, women workers and migrant workers.

Additionally, KCTU will organize candlelight vigil on 6:00 pm, October 7th. This candlelight vigil will also raise the issue of precarious work and discrimination. Various social movement groups will also join this candlelight vigil.