A working-level meeting of labor, business, and government representatives met Tuesday to find a way to reopen dialogue between them, but the gathering ended without even being able to define a timetable and agenda. Labor wanted to talk again about legislation related to irregular workers at the tripartite commission but business and government wanted that to be discussed within the National Assembly, and they were unable to narrow their differences. It as a potential new beginning that had been organized with much difficulty, but it looks like the three-way dialogue will not have an easy road ahead.
As is well known, the reason that the gathering was able to happen in the first place was because the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (Minju Nochong, KCTU) decided to participate despite its internal conflicts about whether to do so. KCTU's leadership decided to go ahead despite the recent violence at one of its representatives meetings because it judged the irregular worker legislation currently in the National Assembly as problematic and it did not want to see it get passed in its current state. The labor movement is really that unwilling to give in easily on the legislation. If KCTU cannot find reason to engage in dialogue then there is even the possibility that the tripartite commission format will collapse before it is even started. The umbrella union says it is ready to join with the other major umbrella organization the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (Han'guk Nochong, FKTU) for a joint struggle should the current bill be forced through the Assembly.
The government's bill is being criticized by civic groups as well as by labor. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (Chamyeo Yeondae, PSPD), Lawyers for a Democratic Society, and 51 other groups have called for an end to the effort to force a vote on the bill. Their criticism is strong, saying that the government is painting a different picture than reality by calling the bill "legislation that will protect irregular workers" when it will "legalize and make permanent the irregular jobs that have been produced in large numbers through illegal and roundabout means."
Granted, the government might be thinking that it just would not look good to reopen discussion on legislation already waiting for a vote in the Assembly. It should not be worrying about how things look, however, when the three-way discourse is getting restarted after so much difficulty. The government needs to work to restore confidence through a constructive will to talk things out, especially when you consider how labor decided to come back to the table while still distrustful of its intentions.
The Hankyoreh, 30 March 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
Talk About 'Irregular Workers' Bill' Back at 3-Way Talks |
