PPP lawmaker introduces bill to rein in 'yellow envelope law'

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

People Power Party lawmaker Choi Eun-seok introduced a bill Friday to amend the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, seeking to correct what he described as industrial chaos caused by the so-called "yellow envelope law."

The yellow envelope law, which took effect March 10, expanded the definition of "employer" under Article 2 of the Trade Union Act to include parent companies with no direct employment contract with subcontracted workers, making them subject to collective bargaining demands. In the three months since the law took effect, 451 labor dispute cases involving parent-subcontractor bargaining had been filed with the Labor Relations Commission as of June 10 — a figure Choi cited as evidence that companies with no contractual relationship with workers are being drawn into labor disputes indiscriminately.

The proposed amendment would narrow the definition of employer in labor relations to those "in a position with the authority and responsibility to be equated with the hiring business owner," exclude "high-level managerial decisions by the employer, such as personnel and management rights" from the scope of labor disputes, and explicitly designate "workplaces" as the only sites where occupation-style industrial action may be prohibited.

Choi criticized the Democratic Party's push to pass the yellow envelope law as "irresponsible legislative overreach that ultimately dismantled the rules of the industrial workplace and pushed companies into a swamp of endless labor disputes."

He also said that "missing the golden moment for management decisions in the fierce global economic war means mutual destruction for both companies and the national economy," adding that "the tilted labor-management landscape must be urgently corrected to build a solid foundation for South Korea's economy to leap forward again."