KCTU considers return to social dialogue for first time in 27 years, proposes new body over existing panel

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is moving to re-engage in social dialogue for the first time in 27 years. However, the KCTU says it will not join the government-led Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC), and instead plans to propose a new consultative body.

The KCTU convened its ninth Central Executive Committee meeting Thursday at a conference room in Jeong-dong, Seoul, placing the "social bargaining discussion" on the agenda as a key item. During the meeting, the KCTU drew a line, saying it would not participate in the ESLC.

The KCTU has not returned to social dialogue since it walked out of the Labor-Management-Government Council — the predecessor to the ESLC — in February 1999. The confederation has argued the council merely rubber-stamps government policy by extracting concessions only from labor.

Instead, the KCTU plans to propose a new social bargaining body to the government. The core of the proposal is a decision-making structure that drops voting procedures in favor of a consensus model built on deliberative discussion.

The KCTU plans to use the results of Thursday's discussions to draft a detailed social bargaining proposal and submit it as a formal demand.

Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung had asked the KCTU to join the ESLC at a meeting with its leadership in April, saying "it is necessary to make dialogue routine and official."