100 days in, 'Yellow Envelope Law' yields only 10 direct bargaining sessions, KCTU says

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions called on the government Monday to revise its enforcement decrees and administrative guidelines for the amended Trade Union Act, marking 100 days since the so-called "Yellow Envelope Law" took effect and saying bargaining between prime contractors and subcontractor unions had fallen far short of expectations.

In a statement released Monday, the KCTU said that while unions at 1,161 subcontractor workplaces had demanded negotiations with their respective prime contractors, substantive bargaining had begun at only 10. "This is proof that the amended Trade Union Act is not functioning properly on the ground," the confederation said.

According to a 100-day progress report released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, as of June 19, unions at 1,161 subcontractor workplaces had filed bargaining demands targeting 439 prime contractor workplaces. Of those, 96 workplaces had bargaining procedures under way, but only 10 prime contractor workplaces — 2.3 percent of the total — had entered substantive talks.

The KCTU attributed the poor results to the ministry's enforcement decrees and interpretive guidelines, saying the ministry had failed to adequately reflect the views of workers on the ground when drafting the rules. "Ultimately, the intent of the law is not being realized in practice," it said.

The confederation particularly criticized the operation of the bargaining-unit separation system. The KCTU said the ministry had presented it as a tool to resolve conflicts between unions, but that labor relations boards were in practice applying the separation criteria conservatively, deepening inter-union tensions rather than easing them.

The KCTU also expressed frustration over the criteria used to determine whether public-sector prime contractors qualify as employers under the law. It said the government had effectively restricted subcontractor workers' right to bargain with prime contractors by setting its own employer-status standards for the public sector. Local and central government bodies, it added, were refusing to engage in bargaining by denying employer status despite an obligation to serve as model employers.

The confederation went further, saying the government had created an early bargaining-channel consolidation procedure without any statutory basis and had narrowly interpreted public-sector employer status — calling both moves "a clear abuse of authority." It urged the government to conduct a full review of the enforcement decrees and interpretive guidelines and revise them immediately.

The KCTU also urged the government to draw up separate measures to actively engage in bargaining with subcontractor workers in the public sector.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said in its own 100-day assessment that the feared "bargaining tsunami" and indiscriminate fragmentation of bargaining units had not materialized. The ministry also reaffirmed its position — in connection with a recent case involving a catering contractor at Hanwha Ocean — that employer status can be recognized in support-service areas such as workplace cafeterias when a prime contractor exercises substantive control over working conditions.