The government submitted a couple of bills on non-regular workers on November 8, 2004, with a view to addressing discrimination against and excessive use of non-regular workers. They are the bill on protection of fixed-term and part-time workers and the bill to revise the Act on Protection of Dispatched Workers.

But trade unions oppose the government bills and are planning a general strike. This increases instability of a majority of people hoping for economic recovery.

The labor argues that the government has caused social conflicts by submitting the bills on non-regular workers.

But the bills submitted by the government are aimed at redressing unreasonable discrimination against and excessive use of non-regular workers, while not hampering labor market flexibility. They are the results of two-year long discussions at the Tripartite Commission, taking into account legislations of advanced countries and domestic labor market situation in a balanced way.

Nevertheless, trade unions are against the bills, because they do not meet all of their demands. Moreover, they are announcing an unjustifiable general strike. It is the trade unions that are now spreading social conflicts.

A bill that reflects trade unions’ demands entirely was already proposed in July 2004 by member of the National Assembly, Dan, Byeong-ho of the Democratic Labor Party. Considering that the government bill has now been also submitted to the National Assembly and discussions at the National Assembly are about to start according to the proper legislation procedure, it is not convincing that trade unions are planning a general strike.

Trade unions insist that the government bill is an evil law that turns every worker into a non-regular.

But it is not true. If the government bill is implemented, unreasonable discrimination against non-regular workers will be dealt with and employers will not be allowed to use non-regulars recklessly, which leads to reduction of the scale of non-regular workers.

Currently, there is no legal protection for non-regular workers who are paid ridiculously lower than regular workers. But the government bill lays the firm institutional groundwork for redressing discrimination against them. Unreasonable discrimination against non-regular workers will be banned and if employers do not follow the correction order from the Labor Relations Commission, they will be fined up to 100 million won.

So far, employers have repeatedly renewed fixed-term contracts of six months to one year, in an effort to avoid the provision of restriction on dismissal. And workers have not been protected by law, despite the seriousness of their employment instability and discrimination against them. But under the government bill, fixed-term workers who have been hired repeatedly by one employer for over three years will be protected by the provision of restriction on dismissal, which will make great contribution to employment stability.

The number of non-regular workers rises by 800,000 every year, reaching 5.4 million this year. Of the 5.4 million, 3.6 million are fixed-term workers and 1.07 million are part-time workers. When the government bills are implemented, the increase in the number of fixed-term and part-time workers will slow down and after a few years, the number of those workers is expected to start decreasing.

Trade unions are particularly concerned about the government bill to revise the Act on Protection of Dispatched Workers. But the bill will only strengthen worker protection provisions of the Act. Unreasonable discrimination against dispatched workers will be banned and punishment for employers who violate the law on dispatched workers will be intensified. Taking into account the laws in advanced countries and the seriousness of youth unemployment, the government decided to expand the job categories for worker dispatch as a measure for job creation. But dispatched work will continue to be banned for 10 jobs and factories (workers directly involved in production of goods) where serious side effects are expected if the worker dispatch is allowed. There is no other country in the world with worker dispatch system where worker dispatch is allowed for certain category of jobs, as is the case in Korea.

As the job categories for dispatched workers are expanded, the number of dispatched workers, currently 120,000, is likely to rise to a certain extent. Trade unions are worried that most workers may be replaced by dispatched workers. But it will not happen because the government bill prohibits discrimination against dispatched workers and has a means to restrict excessive use of dispatched workers such as a period for no use of dispatched workers. Moreover, considering it is a personnel management practice that workers crucial to operation of the businesses are hired as permanent workers, it is plain that dispatched workers will hardly replace regular workers.

Trade unions argue that not only regular and non-regular workers but also those in the academia, legal circle, and NGOs are opposed to the government bills.

But the truth is that many people agree to the government bills to address discrimination against and excessive use of non-regular workers. A public poll was conducted by Korea Research commissioned by the Korean Overseas Information Service to 602 adults in October 2004. It shows 77.9% of the respondents supported the government bill. Experts in the field also say that the government bills are balanced in general. The government also collected opinions of non-regular workers themselves. Unlike the trade unions’ one-sided accusation, they sympathized with the government on the purpose of the bills.

Trade unions insist that the issue of non-regular workers should be addressed, as part of an effort to recover sluggish domestic demand and reduce the gaps between the rich and the poor.

We cannot agree more on the point. But the problem is if the legislation process is delayed due to trade union’s opposition, it is not employers and trade union members who are regular workers but non-regular workers whose number rises by 800,000 every year and amounts to 5.4 million this year that will not be receiving systematic protection.

In the meantime, employers’ organizations are also against the government bills, pointing out that they reduce employment flexibility and increase burden to companies. But, without addressing the issues of non-regular workers, we can hardly achieve social integration, stable industrial relations, and sound corporate development. The government, while focusing on protecting non-regular workers, fully considered the domestic labor market conditions and the need to make the bills bearable for companies.

The government would like the Korean people to understand the purpose of the bills to protect non-regular workers and normalize the labor market order. The government earnestly asks for your support and cooperation.

Now is the time to wrap up the social dialogues on non-regular workers that have been going on for the past four years. In the process of deliberation on bills at the National Assembly, workers and employers’ voices will be clearly heard at the public hearings.

Now let us have discussions at the National Assembly to lay the groundwork for addressing discrimination against and excessive use of non-regular workers as quickly as possible.

An analysis of data of October 2002, October 2003, and October 2004 of MOL¡¯s Worknet (www.work.go.kr) shows that recruiting of middle-aged people of 30 to 54 has been in decline for the past three years.

People of this age bracket consist of over 50% of jobseekers at Worknet and are the main source of income of their households. The fact that they find it more and more difficult to land a job may lead to weakening of the overall labor market and increasing burden to the society, which makes it essential to come up with countermeasures.

Recruiting of young people of 15 to 29 was slightly reduced in 2003 compared to 2002, but rebounded in 2004. Recruiting of those who are 55 or older increased in 2003 but decreased in 2004.

As of October 2004, an analysis of competition for regular jobs among middle-aged people shows that even if the demand for middle-aged workers keeps decreasing in general, there still exist some jobs available with little competition.

More specifically, manual labor related to food service, manipulating machines for plastic goods, and manipulating machines for construction or jobs requiring specific skills such as driving and maintenance are the jobs that middle-aged people can find with relative ease.

The highest competition among middle-aged people is seen in general office work for which 4,500 middle-aged persons applied.

Among the 10 most competitive jobs for the middle-aged, general office work, simple accounting, accounting, settlement of accounts, tax administration, and office supply are included, proving that middle-aged jobseekers prefer those office works.