The white-collar union at Hanwha Total has received official recognition and will negotiate with the company separately from the professional (production) union.
According to labor circles on the 25th, the South Chungcheong Regional Labor Relations Commission decided on the 21st of last month to separate the white-collar job group as an independent bargaining unit.
"Separation of bargaining units" means that when bargaining is conducted through a single channel within one workplace, a specific group of workers is carved out separately in light of clear differences in occupation, employment type, or working conditions.
In its decision, the South Chungcheong commission said it considered the following: ▲ white-collar (office) workers show significant differences from professional (production) workers in wages, duties, and promotion systems ▲ eligibility for joining the office and professional unions is distinguished ▲ Hanwha Total conducted separate bargaining with the office union for two years.
The Hanwha Total office union was founded in September 2022. Since then, it has concluded wage agreements separately from the professional union from 2023 through Oct. 2024. However, under the principle of single bargaining-channel unification in the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, a single bargaining channel was unified starting in Nov. 2024.
Because of this, management argued that a separate bargaining channel was unnecessary, but the office union said, "Since the Nov. 2024 decision to unify the bargaining channel, the opinions of office union members have not been reflected."
Ultimately, the matter went to the South Chungcheong commission, which sided with the office union. The commission explained in its decision that "due to differences in working conditions, the interests of the two job groups may conflict over various allowances, which are key agenda items in collective bargaining."
The South Chungcheong commission also rejected management's claim that "separating bargaining units will increase unnecessary bargaining expense between labor and management."
Park Ji-soon, a professor at Korea University School of Law, said, "Since the implementation of the yellow envelope law, separation of bargaining units within subcontracting has been actively pursued," adding, "This decision to separate by job category appears to show such bargaining-unit separation becoming a reality."
Certified Public Labor Attorney Kim Jae-eon said, "Given the structure of Korean industry, existing unions have tended to be organized and run mainly around production workers," adding, "Accordingly, office unions were sometimes excluded from bargaining, and this decision can be interpreted as aiming to protect minority unions."
Hanwha Total said it would accept the South Chungcheong commission's decision. A Hanwha Total official said, "In line with the decision to separate bargaining units, we plan to conduct collective bargaining separately with office and professional employees."
So far, places where the decision to separate the bargaining unit of an office union has been deemed lawful include Hyundai Elevator, Kumho Tire, and KORAIL.