Starting Mar. 10 next year, if corporations are expected to carry out mass layoffs or reassign employees due to mergers, partitioning, sales, or transfers, unions will be able to demand collective bargaining. The government on the 26th released interpretive guidelines for the so-called the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers (Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act amendment).

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) National Railroad Workers' Union KORAIL Networks Branch and Rail Customer Center Branch hold a general strike rally in front of the KORAIL Networks headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 22nd. /Courtesy of News1

Earlier, the National Assembly amended the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act to include "disagreements over business management decisions that affect working conditions" as a subject of labor disputes. Corporations raised the concern that it was unclear what constitutes a business management decision.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said that "mass layoffs and reassignments due to restructuring, which cause substantial and specific changes to employee status or working conditions, are subject to collective bargaining even if they are business management decisions." It added, "Even when mass layoffs or reassignments are objectively expected as a result of decisions such as mergers, partitioning, sales, or transfers, unions may demand collective bargaining on employment security and related matters."

The government and courts had previously treated whether corporations conduct mass layoffs as a matter of managerial judgment and excluded it from collective bargaining. However, in line with the implementation of the the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers, the Labor Ministry plans to revise its administrative interpretation to allow mass layoffs to be a subject of collective bargaining.

The Labor Ministry said that "business management decisions that cause substantial and specific changes to employee status or working conditions become 'mandatory bargaining subjects.'" It added, "If corporations refuse a union's legitimate demand for collective bargaining without just cause, it may constitute an unfair labor practice."

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