[Editorial] Anything to Ignore Rights of Irregular Workers?

The legislative negotiations by the National Assembly and by the Tripartite Commission of labor, business, and government are making no progress, and there are signs there is going to be an all-out confrontation. The heads of the country's two large umbrella unions just commenced on a hunger strike to demand the National Assembly accept the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission. In response the heads of the country's five major business organizations, including the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), held a joint press conference to harshly criticize the human rights commission. Civic and social groups have joined in the debate as well. Professors groups such as the National Association of Professors for a Democratic Society have issued statements of support while Christian NGO and Lawyers Together with the Citizens have issued statements in opposition.

What you naturally take note of first is the attitude of big business organizations. They said the human rights commission should "immediately withdraw" its position because it "makes it difficult to resolve the issue of irregular jobs and incites conflict at between labor, business, and government." They even criticized the human rights commission for involving the issue of civil rights in the question over irregular employment, and by doing so supposedly overlooking the larger problems that have arisen.

Recently the US company Nike promised to human rights groups that it would improve working conditions even at subcontractors in Third World countries. During years of attacks by such groups it never said, "don't measure things according to the standard of civil rights." By condemning its workers' demands for an improvement in the civil rights situation, big business is exposing its own lack of ethics. The international trend is that companies that ignore civil rights, ethics, and social responsibility find it difficult to survive, and Korea can be no exception.

The primary responsibility for letting the situation come to what it is lies with the government. Labor Minister Kim Dae Hwan is in a position where he should be taking the initiative in convincing big business to respect a minimum level of civil rights, and yet Kim was the first to criticize the human rights commission. Whether the situation now turns into a full-fledged confrontation depends entirely on the government. What it needs to do is make it clear that standards of basic rights need to be firmly maintained, and to work to mediate and resolve the issue. The National Assembly, too, must cooperate actively to that end.

The Hankyoreh, 23 April 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]