노동조합 및 노동관계조정법 제2조 및 제3조 개정의 취지, 필요성 및 평가 = Purpose, Necessity, and Review of the amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The main contents of the the amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act are as follows: First, the expansion of the employer definition, which allows collective bargaining between the principal contractor and subcontractor unions; second, the deletion of the current provision that excludes an organization from being recognized as a trade union if it admits non-workers as members; third, the expansion of the concept of labor disputes to include managerial decisions affecting working conditions and violations of collective agreements by the employer; and fourth, the introduction of new provisions establishing criteria for determining the proportion of individual liability of workers in cases of damages arising from industrial action, allowing for claims of reduction in compensation, and providing grounds for exemption from liability for damages.
For more than twenty years, labor flexibilization, outsourcing, and persistent corporate restructuring in Korea has resulted in profound socio-economic consequences. The collective bargaining rights of indirectly employed workers—most notably in-house subcontracted employees—remain structurally constrained. At the same time, employers’ excessive claims for damages have functioned as a powerful deterrent against union activity, producing a chilling effect that, in extreme cases, jeopardizes workers’ basic means of subsistence.
The amended Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act embodies the intent to encourage the resolution of labor-management issues through autonomous industrial relations and to seek improvements by revitalizing collective bargaining.