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Atypical Employment in Korea. ITUC-AP/ILO Regional Workshop on Decent Work in Informal Economy 25-27 Nov 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU). The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (1). The number of atypical workers (unit: persons, %).
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Atypical Employment in Korea ITUC-AP/ILO Regional Workshop on Decent Work in Informal Economy 25-27 Nov 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU)
The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (1) • The number of atypical workers (unit: persons, %)
The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (2) • Scope of atypical workers • Regular work 46.5% • Ordinary temporary work 19.3% • Fixed-term work 14.0% • Regular part-time work 0.1% • Temporary part-time work 5.5%, • On-call work 5.1%, • Workers in special employment arrangement (Disguised self-employed: ex. insurance salespersons, golf course caddies, self-employed truck drivers) 3.6% • Temporary agency work 1.1-3% • Contract work 3.9% • Work at home 0.9%
The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (3) • The percentage of non-regular workers dropped to 53.5% in 2008 from 58.6% in 2002. • However, it still accounts for more than 50% of the total workforce.
Conditions of Atypical Workers • Monthly Wages • Regular workers: 2,470,000 KRW • Atypical Workers: 1,240,000 KRW (50.2% of regular workers’ wages) • Social Insurance Coverage & Other Working Conditions
Labor Law on Atypical Work (1) • The Act Concerning Protection of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees (effective since 1 July 2007) • Key Elements of the Law • Non-discrimination: “An Employer may not discriminate against his/her non-regular employees (whether they are on a fixed-term contract, part-timers or dispatched workers) in terms of working conditions including pay.” • Duration of service for fixed-term employees: “The maximum duration of service of an employee on a fixed-term contract shall be limited to 2 years and in the event of a longer duration of service, the employee involved shall be treated as an employee on an indefinite term contract”
Labor Law on Atypical Work (2) • Restrictions on overtime work of part-time employees: “An employer may not have his/her part-time employee work overtime hours exceeding the given number of working hours unless he/she has obtained consent from the employee. In any case, a part-time employee may not work longer than 12 hours in overtime per week.” • Remedies for discriminative treatment ◦ A fixed-term or part-time employee may make an application for remedies for discriminative treatment to the Labor Relations Commission no later than 3 months from the date of the discriminative treatment. ◦ In the dispute-setting process, the burden of proof on discrimination is on the employer.
Labor Law on Atypical Work (3) • Positive Effects • Change of employment status from fixed-term workers to infinite-term workers • Negative Effects • Outsourcing of atypical workers’ work • Termination of fixed-term workers’ contracts
Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining • Union density of atypical workers: 3.0% (total workers 11.7%, regular workers 23.3%) • Difficulties • Fixed-term workers: refusal of employment renewal by employers in case of termination of contract term • Disguised self-employed: denial of existence of employment by de facto employers • Temporary agency workers: evasion of responsibility by agency employers and user employers
FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (1) • Job Placement Centers established by Ministry of Labor in 1998 to tackle high unemployment after IMF financial crisis. • 1,800 job counselors employed as atypical workers (1-year fixed term basis) - Main work: management of employment insurance and counseling on job placement
FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (2) • Background of establishment of trade union • Announcement of structural restructuring by MOL (lay-offs) • Reason: difficult to control and manage job counselors (too many in numbers compared with regular public servants: job counselors 1800 / public servants 500)
FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (3) • Establishment of Trade Union • Established in July 2002 • 1,500 persons joined (out of 1,800) • 6 regional offices and 46 sub-regional offices nationwide • Collective Bargaining • First CBA concluded in 2002 • Priority decided: Securing regular worker status -> strong opposition by regular public servants • Wage demands -> no responses by employers (Regional offices of MOL)
FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (4) • General Strike • Strike funds collected: USD400 / per 1 member • Industrial action ballot by all members (90.4% in favor of strike) • Insincere and unfaithful attitudes by MOL unchanged • Guidance on general strike announced and vigils/demonstrations launched • General strike launched in FKTU Central Education Center on 6 Oct 2003 • Strong protests continued: ex. President had his hair shaved
FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (5) • CBA Concluded Proposed agreement agreed by union members’ ballot (with the approval of 83.3%) and CBA concluded on 13 Oct 2003) • 17% raise in basic salary • Retirement age • Change of employment status from fixed-term workers and infinite-term workers • Expansion of promotion • Group insurance coverage • Guarantee of trade union activities • Assistance for job competency training • Betterment of working conditions • Securing union shop
Proposed Activities for Organizing and Educating Atypical Workers (1) • To launch targeted initiatives to organize different type of atypical workers • To allocate sufficient union funds to organizing • To develop organizing manuals and recruitment kits • To amend legal frameworks defining the status of atypical workers • Workers in special employment arrangement (disguised self-employed): Proving the existence of real employment relationships is crucial. • Sub-contracted workers: To identify original contractors and subcontractors • Temporary agency workers: To clarify responsibilities between agency employers and user employers
Proposed Activities for Organizing and Educating Atypical Workers (2) • To organize training programs for organizers • To establish a special organizational structure to deal with atypical workers (ex. FKTU Non-regular Workers’ Alliance) • To disseminate best practices on organizing and share the experience _______________________________________________ Thank you very much