Democratic Party files second special-zone bill without labour provisions
In short
Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Ki-sang (최기상) filed a special zone bill on 21 October that leaves out the 52-hour-week exemption and other labour provisions contained in a same-named bill filed the day before by Park Sang-hyuk (박상혁). Outlets also reported that Choi's bill omits provisions on unpaid holidays and dispatch work at foreign-invested firms. The party plans to review the two bills together.
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Choi Ki-sang, the Democratic Party of Korea secretary on the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, filed a special act on designating and operating mega-regional strategic industry special zones for locally led growth on 21 October, Yonhap reported. The bill provides special measures and fiscal, financial and tax support for the zones, but leaves out the exemption from the 52-hour week for high-income and research workers. It also leaves out a longer settlement period for selective working hours and a longer use period for fixed-term workers. [ 1 , 4 ]
Park Sang-hyuk, the Democratic Party secretary on the Political Affairs Committee, had filed a bill of the same name on 20 October. Korea Economic Daily reported that it covers an exemption from the 52-hour week for high-income managers, experts and research staff, a longer settlement period for selective working hours and a fixed-term extension of up to four years. CBS NoCut News gave the article numbers as 132, 133 and 134, and said the exemption applies to managers and research staff in the top 3% of earners, with a settlement period of six months. [ 3 , 5 ]
Choi's bill also omits labour provisions for foreign-invested firms. Maeil Business reported that Park's bill, in Article 77, lets such firms grant unpaid weekly and public holidays and allows wider dispatch work. Yonhap said Choi's bill also leaves out provisions on foreign medical institutions, pharmacies for foreigners and support for foreign schools. Korea Economic Daily reported that a draft circulated to lawmakers for co-sponsorship still had the unpaid-holiday and dispatch provisions, which were removed from the filed bill, and that local governments are instead to provide foreign-language administrative services. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Yonhap reported that the Democratic Party set a two-track strategy after continued union opposition and will merge the bills in review. Choi said the party must consider industrial competitiveness and workers' rights together and that deliberation should come before legislation while social dialogue is under way. Maeil Business reported that party leader Kim Min-seok said the party would push the act as its top legislative task in the regular session. [ 1 , 2 ]
Korea Economic Daily reported that the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions demanded withdrawal of Park's bill and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions said it undermined social dialogue. It also reported that six economic groups said the exclusion of the labour provisions could make the act's purpose harder to achieve and urged quick passage of a bill containing them. [ 3 ]
CBS NoCut News reported that, at the fifth working-level meeting on 20 October, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions protested the filing and asked for a delay, so the sixth meeting planned for 23 October was moved to 28 October. It said the government and ruling party have set no deadline for the dialogue, and that some ruling-party lawmakers want the provisions dropped while others want to avoid dropping them entirely. [ 5 ]
Why it matters
The two bills leave the question of labour provisions to the National Assembly's merged review. Korea Economic Daily reported that business groups want the labour provisions kept, while CBS NoCut News reported that unions want them withdrawn and that a social dialogue meeting was postponed.
Key facts
- Choi Ki-sang, the Democratic Party of Korea (더불어민주당) secretary on the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, filed the special act on designating and operating mega-regional strategic industry special zones on 21 October. [ 1 , 4 ]
- Choi's bill leaves out the exemption from the 52-hour week for high-income and research workers, the longer settlement period for selective working hours and the longer use period for fixed-term workers. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Park Sang-hyuk, the Democratic Party secretary on the Political Affairs Committee, filed a bill of the same name on 20 October that includes those labour provisions. [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]
- Choi's bill also omits provisions allowing unpaid holidays and expanded dispatch work at foreign-invested firms, which Park's bill contains. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The Democratic Party plans to review the two bills together in the National Assembly and prepare a final version. [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]
- Kim Min-seok (김민석), the party leader, said the party would push the special zone act as its top legislative task in the regular session. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Choi Ki-sang filed a special zone bill on 21 October without the 52-hour-week exemption and the other labour provisions. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
- Park Sang-hyuk's bill, filed on 20 October, contains labour provisions that Choi's bill leaves out. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 ]
- The Democratic Party intends to merge the two bills in review. [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]
Still unclear
- Which labour provisions, if any, will be in the final bill. CBS NoCut News reported that the outcome depends on the ruling party's leadership and that members are split on whether to drop the provisions entirely.
- Why the foreign-invested firm provisions were removed from Choi's bill. Maeil Business reported it was understood that they were deleted during review; Korea Economic Daily reported that a version circulated for co-sponsors still had them and that the change was read as a response to union opposition. Both are reports of interpretation, not statements by the party.
- Whether the Democratic Party filed a bill including the exemption on 21 October. The opening sentence of the Newsis report says the party filed a bill including the white-collar exemption, but the rest of the report says Choi's bill lacks the labour provisions.