The ruling Uri Party experienced a big to-do about how it will handle the "irregular job protection bill." First it said it would not seek to pass the bill during February's extraordinary National Assembly session. Then on February 24 it turned around and declared it would force the legislation through. Because of strong opposition by the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), it now has to wait until April's ordinary session, but it is sad to see that the ruling party's understanding of irregular workers is still so poor.
It is why most civic groups are opposed to the bill, but the bill is only about "protection" in name, and in fact it is about increasing the number of irregular jobs. Aware of their arguments, the ruling party has conceded a little and says it will maintain the number of job types that for which irregular positions are allowed at the current 26, but that does not resolve the fundamental problem. It is not hiding its intention to increase the number of fields when the opportunity arises. Furthermore it is standing by its position on increasing amount of time an employer may dispatch someone to perform work elsewhere from 2 to three years.
The ruling party has postponed the timing of the passage of the bill because of the opposition party, but when you look at how it wavered on the issue latterly, it would be hard to say that its understanding of irregular labor has fundamentally changed. You can only conclude that it is actively siding with the persistent demands of big business about more flexibility in the labor market. The legislation will create larger numbers of irregular workers, and it might increase corporate efficiency. But it will clearly make the quality of laborers' lives worse.
Therefore, it needs to go beyond just delaying the bill's passage; it needs to approach the legislation with a changed fundamental perception about irregular laborers. Its point of departure about the issue should be the point of view of irregular workers, not the corporations. Only by doing so will the legislation be about "protection" for irregular labor.
Now that around two months worth of time have been earned do handle the bill, the labor movement and the government need to engage in substantial dialogue. We particularly hope the Labor Ministry, which has taken a hard-line attitude on the matter, takes a humble look at whether the bill is about "protection" or not.
The Hankyoreh, 25 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Ruling Party Wrong About Irregular Labor |
