More than 7 out of 10 domestic corporations said labor-management relations next year will worsen compared with this year. They particularly warned that conflicts and uncertainty between labor and management will intensify over employment and labor issues such as the "yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers" (Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act Articles 2 and 3 amendment), extending the mandatory retirement age, and shortening working hours.
On the 21st, according to the "2026 outlook for labor-management relations" survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) of 151 member corporations, 72.9% of responding corporations projected labor-management relations next year will be more unstable than this year.
Regarding the outlook for labor-management relations, the share who answered "labor-management relations will become more unstable" was the highest since 2020. The most cited reason for expecting instability next year was "increased conflict and more labor movement struggles due to the implementation of the 'yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers'" (83.6%).
The second was "diversification of union demands such as extending the mandatory retirement age and shortening working hours" (52.7%). That was followed by "an increase in pro-labor legislation" (34.5%), "worsening of judicial disputes related to labor-management relations" (10.9%), and "more intervention by political circles in individual corporations' labor-management relations" (7.3%).
For next year's wage and collective bargaining, extending the mandatory retirement age (49.7%) and "raising management performance bonuses and recognizing them as wage-like" (33.8%) were projected to be major issues. Next were "staffing increases" (26.5%), "shortening working hours" (23.2%), "expanding the scope of ordinary wages" (21.2%), and "employment stability" (17.9%). Management also expected "expanding union activities" (9.3%), "demands related to safety and industrial accident compensation" (5.3%), and "converting nonregular workers to regular status" (2.6%) to be key agenda items. Wages and benefits were excluded from the survey because they are discussed repeatedly in wage and collective bargaining.
Regarding the implementation of the yellow envelope law, the most common response, at 64.2%, was that industrial sites could face greater instability as struggles targeting principal contracting corporations increase. Another 58.3% said bargaining and disputes could drag on due to an expanded scope of bargaining counterparts.
That was followed by "more controversy over illegal dispatch and increased demands for direct employment by principal contractors" (39.7%) and "more frequent and normalized illegal acts due to limits on damage liability" (23.8%).
Only 3.3% of corporations expected the dual structure of the labor market to ease, and just 2.0% saw labor disputes decreasing due to more dialogue between labor and management.
Corporations cited "shortening working hours (implementing a 4.5-day workweek)" (73.5%) as the employment-labor bill expected to put the greatest burden on management. Extending the statutory retirement age was the second-most concerning bill at 70.2%.
Next were "expanding the definition of workers, including presumed workers" (16.6%), "mandating supra-enterprise bargaining" (11.9%), "strengthening the right to stop work under the Occupational Safety and Health Act" (11.3%), "mandating succession of employment relationships and working conditions when business changes or transfers occur" (5.3%), and "expanding application of the Labor Standards Act to business sites with fewer than five employees" (4.6%).