Tripartite deal on overcoming COVID-19 falls apart

Jul 02, 2020, 09:28 am

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Representatives of the tripartite labor, management and government dialogue talk Wednesday morning before the scheduled signing of a preliminary agreement they reached the night before. The deal fell apart just 15 minutes before the scheduled signing time due to strong opposition within the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. (From left) Economic, Social and Labor Committee Chairman Moon Sung-hyun, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, Federation of Korean Trade Unions Chairman Kim Dong-myung, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Presidential Committee on Job Creation Vice Chairman Kim Yong-ki, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan, and Employment Minister Lee Jae-kap./ Photographed by Lee Byung-hwa

AsiaToday reporter Lee Jang-won

Efforts to sign a deal among labor, management and the government on combating the COVID-19 pandemic have fallen apart with the absence of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Attention had been drawn to the deal as it would have marked the first time since the 1998 financial crisis for labor, management and the government to reach a social agreement on overcoming a national crisis.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday that a signing ceremony of the final tripartite deal, originally scheduled to be held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Seoul on Wednesday morning, has been cancelled after the KCTU expressed it would not attend the event. KCTU chief Kim Myeong-hwan was unable to attend the ceremony due to strong internal opposition. It was just 15 minutes before the ceremony. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and representatives of labor, management and the government were set to sign and jointly announce a final deal in the ceremony.

The agreement had attracted attention since it was to be the first tripartite agreement to be reached among 6 parties including the KCTU in 22 years. The remaining five parties except the KCTU attended the event, including Federation of Korean Trade Unions Chairman Kim Dong-myung, Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, and Employment Minister Lee Jae-kap.

Since the start of dialogue last month however, there was a prospect that it would not be easy to reach an agreement due to strong opposition from KCTU’s hard-liners. Some labor representatives objected that the provisional agreement did not state the ban on layoffs and expansion of social safety nets. The KCTU has convened a series of emergency central execution committee meetings to reach an internal agreement, but failed to do so.

The draft deal contained a number of collaborative measures including the labor unions’ support for the cost-cutting measures of companies to maintain employment, businesses making sure they will do their best to retain the number of workers and the government providing necessary financial support for those efforts. However, some of the core demands by labor and management sectors were excluded.

The government is watching the situation, but the KCTU is unlikely to reach a conclusion within the organization. In 1998, the KCTU left the Tripartite Commission due to strong internal opposition. Some KCTU members have been rejecting the tripartite dialogue itself. While KCTU chairman Kim Myeong-hwan vowed to support the deal and to fight the organization’s dissent, he eventually failed to persuade others.

Hyundai Motor’s Temporary Workers Branch under the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), which blocked KCTU chief Kim’s attendance for the signing ceremony, issued a statement and called for Kim’s resignation. “Chairman Kim is reluctant to defend the entire workers, and is begging for help from the capital and the administration to reach a deal,” it said.

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