Ruling party suggests postponing controversial multiple unions rule
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has proposed deferring by three years the introduction of a multiple unions system which is fiercely opposed by the country's militant umbrella unions.
The Lee Myung-bak administration's labor law revisions would allow more than one union in a single workplace and have been decried by the nation's two labor umbrella groups -- the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU).
They had formed an alliance against the move but the moderate FKTU said Monday it would break the agreement and back the government's revisions.
While meeting with the leaders of the government, company management and the FKTU on Monday night, GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo suggested postponing the enforcement of the revisions until 2013. The original bill was scheduled to take effect next year.
Ahn also stressed the need for a step-by-step process for imposing a ban on the paying of wages to full-time union representatives. He suggested that companies with more than 10,000 employees comply with the wage ban from next year, though the ban would be introduced in stages for smaller companies.
"Ahn has been working hard to prepare the compromise proposal. The negotiations will be continued to draw a conclusion by today," an official from the GNP said.
The militant KCTU agrees to allow more than one union at a single workplace, but opposes the government's demand that only one of them be recognized as the negotiating partner with the management. It also argued that the government's "no work, no pay" principle undermines the union's important role as the mediator between workers and the management.
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