The Democratic Party of Korea announced that it would process the revised bill for Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, known as the 'Yellow Envelope Law,' in the July extraordinary National Assembly. Recently, there has been a sentiment within the party to push the timing of processing the bill to the August extraordinary National Assembly in order to go through a further deliberation process, but it has reiterated its commitment to accelerate the process.
Jin Sung-jun, the Democratic Party's policy chief, noted during a plenary meeting that "the Democratic Party processed the Yellow Envelope Law and the revision of Articles 2 and 3 of the labor law at the Environment and Labor Committee yesterday. This was a bill that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration had twice exercised a veto against," adding, "The Democratic Party will ensure that the Yellow Envelope Law is processed within the July extraordinary session."
Chairman Jin criticized, saying, "This bill guarantees the negotiating rights of subcontracted workers and restricts excessive claims for damages by employers to realize basic labor rights and promote labor-management negotiations. However, the People Power Party has consistently opposed it. This is truly a terrible anti-labor sentiment."
He added, "We will make sure that workers do not lose their lives due to not properly having their constitutional rights guaranteed while suffering from excessive damage lawsuits."
Earlier, the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee held consecutive meetings of the subcommittee and the full committee, voting on the Yellow Envelope Law led by the ruling party members. The proposal expanded the concept of 'employer' from 'the parties to the labor contract' to 'the primary contractor (a party who has a substantial and concrete ability to control and determine the labor conditions of workers)' and included the subjects of legitimate disputes from 'matters concerning labor condition determination' to 'management decisions affecting labor conditions.' This widens the scope of disputes to include the impact of management decisions such as restructuring and outsourcing on labor conditions.
Additionally, the current law only exempts damages caused by 'legitimate disputes' but the proposal limits the claims for damages across all trade union activities and specifies that unions and members are not liable for damages when responding to unlawful acts by employers.
Moreover, it prohibits employers from filing for damages with the intent to obstruct union operations and established a clause allowing courts to request reductions in the amount of liability. Courts must take into account the economic condition of the liable parties and obligations of support when determining whether to grant reductions. When recognizing the liability of the liable party for damages, the content is included to consider the degree of involvement in the union's internal status, participation in the disputes, and the level of income, clarifying more than the proposal that was discarded by a veto from the previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration. The grace period for the law's implementation is set at six months. Recently, the government proposed to implement a regulatory dispute procedure and set the law's grace period at one year, but this was not reflected during the National Assembly's bill review process.
However, it is unclear whether the Yellow Envelope Law will be addressed during the plenary session on August 4. According to the National Assembly Act, a bill that has passed the standing committee must go through a 'five-day' deliberation period before being submitted to the plenary session after being referred to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Exceptions can be made for immediate submissions if there is agreement between the ruling and opposition parties.
Even if the Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Lee Chun-seok of the Democratic Party, puts the Yellow Envelope Law on the agenda by authority, the plenary session still remains. The Democratic Party plans to raise controversial bills, including the Yellow Envelope Law and the three broadcasting laws along with the amendment to the Commercial Act, at the plenary session on August 4. The People Power Party has indicated a filibuster on each contentious bill that the ruling party processes forcefully, and each bill will require a minimum of 24 hours to end the filibuster. If another bill is processed before the Yellow Envelope Law, the timing may be delayed to the August extraordinary National Assembly.
Baek Seung-a, the Democratic Party's spokesperson, met with reporters after the internal measures meeting and stated, "We aim for August 4 as the target for processing the Yellow Envelope Law, but I can't give a definite answer," adding, "The order of processing has not been clearly defined nor prioritized. We are aiming for processing during this session and it may be postponed depending on the physical circumstances."