Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said that if the recently released enforcement guidelines for the yellow envelop bill are applied, the strike by the Samsung Electronics union demanding "operating profit N% bonuses" would be illegal.
When the host of SBS Radio "Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show" on the 8th asked Minister Kim, "The Samsung Electronics strike cannot be applied retroactively, but under the guidelines is it an illegal strike?," Kim said, "Yes," adding, "I think it is difficult to start by taking (bonuses) out of operating profit first."
He explained the background of the recently released enforcement guidelines for the yellow envelop bill by saying, "We started from the question of how to harmonize when the three labor rights, freedom of business, and the rights of shareholders and the state come into conflict."
He went on, "If you take this out first even before paying taxes, people abroad could have an unnecessary misunderstanding that 'in that country, they give the union's share before even paying taxes,'" adding, "This could lead to reduced investment and weaken corporate competitiveness, so the intent is to impose limits on such bonuses."
Minister Kim also took a cautious stance on introducing a "white-collar exemption" (an exception to the 52-hour workweek) in the special act for mega-special zones. The "white-collar exemption" is a system that excludes certain high-earning professionals and managers from working-hours regulations and the application of overtime, night, and holiday pay.
He said, "It is right to row when the tide comes in, but granting unlimited exemptions is a different matter," adding, "If labor, management, and the government pool their wisdom in innovative ways rather than competing on the quantity of working hours, we can find measures that secure flexibility while protecting workers' health."
He added, "It is true that China's chase is rapidly closing in, but is there any country that can beat China by competing quantitatively?," and said, "I think we should do it in more innovative ways."
He also expressed a positive view on extending the retirement age. Minister Kim said, "Extending the retirement age would not be early even if we did it today," adding, "We face not only the issue of an old-age income crevasse but also the critical demographic cliff of a steep decline in the working-age population."
Addressing the concern that it could clash with youth jobs, he said, "The portion where the retirement age clashes is about 20% of jobs," adding, "Because young people have concerns about good jobs in the public sector, large corporations, and financial institutions, the president also said that while solving this issue together, extending the retirement age must proceed in tandem."
Regarding the exclusion from next year's budget of a plan to pay unemployment benefits to youths under 35 who voluntarily change jobs, he explained, "There was criticism that it was populist, so it was not included in next year's budget for now."