Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 22nd that "the bargaining tsunami or indiscriminate split bargaining that some had worried about after the implementation of the revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (the yellow envelope law, a new labor law aimed at strengthening the bargaining rights of subcontract workers) has not emerged."
On this day, the ministry released the status of bargaining demands by subcontractor unions toward prime-contractor business sites to mark 100 days since the revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act took effect. The core of the revision is to broaden the definition of the prime contractor, that is, the employer, in the existing law from "direct employer" to "a person who substantially controls working conditions." Because of this, there had been concerns before implementation that subcontractor employees, who did not have a direct employment contract, could demand bargaining with the prime contractor and that bargaining applications would flood in.
According to the ministry, from Mar. 10 of this year, when the revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act took effect, to the 19th of this month, 1,161 subcontractor unions demanded bargaining with 439 prime-contractor business sites. In March, the first month of implementation, bargaining demands were filed against 363 prime-contractor business sites, but that fell to 42 in April and 23 in May. The average number of bargaining demands per prime-contractor business site is 2.6. A ministry official said, "A bargaining tsunami has not appeared."
When a bargaining request is filed, the Labor Relations Commission determines whether the prime contractor is an employer. Excluding business sites that entered bargaining voluntarily, 141 prime contractors went through the commission's determination process. Of these, employer status was recognized for 103. Representative cases include deciding Hanwha Ocean as the employer for partner companies providing meals and cleaning at Hanwha Ocean, and Hyundai Motor as the employer for subcontractors handling in-plant cafeterias and security at Hyundai Motor.
Earlier in February, the ministry said in an interpretation guideline of the revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act that facilities such as in-plant cafeterias were unrelated to employer status. Because of this, there was criticism that the decisions ran counter to the guideline. In response, a ministry official said, "The interpretation guideline also presented factors for recognizing employer status, such as when major facilities are under the prime contractor's management authority and responsibility." The official added, "It does not conflict with the interpretation guideline."
The ministry also assessed that split bargaining has not emerged because bargaining units have not been subdivided. According to the ministry, bargaining separation has been recognized at 12 business sites so far. In most cases, they were split into two bargaining units. The largest split was into three units. Based on the 12 sites, the average number of bargaining units is 2.2. A ministry official said, "There is no sign that bargaining units are being excessively subdivided."