The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 21st that it held a meeting to share opinions regarding Articles 2 and 3 of the amendment to the trade union law with the chief executives (CEOs) of six corporations in three major industries: steel, shipbuilding, and automotive.
The meeting, which took place from 2 p.m. at the Seoul Employment and Labor Administration, was attended by Vice Minister Kwon Chang-jun and the CEOs of the steel, shipbuilding, and automotive corporations.
The steel corporations were represented by Lee Hee-geun, CEO of POSCO; Seo Kang-hyun, CEO of Hyundai Steel; while the shipbuilding companies included Noh Jin-yul, CEO of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Jeong In-seop, CEO of Hanwha Ocean. From the automotive sector, Choi Jun-young, CEO of Kia, and Hekter Biza-real, CEO of GM Korea, participated.
The meeting was arranged to allow the Vice Minister to listen directly to the opinions of corporations in the industries that may be affected by the amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the trade union law.
Vice Minister Kwon noted, "This amendment to the trade union law will serve as an opportunity to facilitate negotiations between original and subcontracted companies, reduce disparities, and transform the regressive labor-management relations centered on conflict and confrontation into a horizontal paradigm of participation and cooperation." He added, "After the legal amendments, I will thoroughly prepare to ensure that confusion does not arise by reviewing the issues and concerns raised by corporations."
He also stated, "In particular, for the industries that may be significantly impacted by the trade union law amendments, I will listen to more opinions and think deeply to ensure that additional difficulties are not imposed on corporations."