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The bill to amend the labor union act passed the National Assembly on January 1st, 2010
An amendment bill, which allows the union pluralism at enterprise-level and also bans wage payment by employers to full-time union officials, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on 1st January 2010.
According to the amended act, union pluralism at enterprise-level will be allowed from July 2011 after one and half years’ preparation and regarding prohibition of wage payment to full-time union officials, ‘time-off’ system will take effect next July after six-month grace period.
Even though union pluralism is allowed, the act stipulates that only exclusive single bargaining channel is allowed at workplace level in principle. Labor unions can decide upon who will be their representatives on their own. However, if they cannot decide, the union successfully garnering a majority of the total union members will be given the representative power. If there is no such a union, other minor unions will come together to make up a joint bargaining team. In addition, labor unions can resort to a labor dispute when more than a majority of members of labor unions which participated in the process of making up the single bargaining channel approves the dispute.
The act made it a principle to have a single bargaining channel, however all unions can have bargaining power when employers agree. They also can have a separate industrial bargaining on the condition that employers agree. Also, in the case of industrial unions that have bargaining power as of the end of this year, bargaining channel unification will be implemented in July 2012, one year later than the implementation of allowing union pluralism.
In addition, given that controversy may occur on the effectiveness of the existing collective bargaining agreement, a supplementary provision stipulates that the existing CBAs will be effective up to two years from June next year. When organization target groups and working conditions are very different like non-regular workers, the labor relations commission will decide on the matter of separating their bargaining units.
Under the time-off system, the scope of work hour exemption of full-time union officials is confined to only △ labor-management joint activities (bargaining, negotiation, grievance handling, occupational safety, etc.) and △ activities for maintaining and operating unions. The phrase proposed by the ruling Grand National Party, ‘Ordinary union operating activities set by the presidential decree’ was deleted in the agreement and instead, it was expressed as ‘maintaining and operating activities for the development of sound labor-management relations’, stressing the soundness of union’s activities for increasing membership and education.
The revision bill in particular has articles that requests exceeding the time-off system cannot be used as a reason for strike by unions and also stipulates that ‘time-off system review committee’ should be established under the Ministry of Labor, composed of 15 members, five from each labor, employers and public interest groups, will decide on the upper limitation of the time-off system. The review committee is convened every three years and when labor and management fail to reach an agreement on the upper limit at the first place, then public interest members will decide on it.
An amendment bill, which allows the union pluralism at enterprise-level and also bans wage payment by employers to full-time union officials, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on 1st January 2010.
According to the amended act, union pluralism at enterprise-level will be allowed from July 2011 after one and half years’ preparation and regarding prohibition of wage payment to full-time union officials, ‘time-off’ system will take effect next July after six-month grace period.
Even though union pluralism is allowed, the act stipulates that only exclusive single bargaining channel is allowed at workplace level in principle. Labor unions can decide upon who will be their representatives on their own. However, if they cannot decide, the union successfully garnering a majority of the total union members will be given the representative power. If there is no such a union, other minor unions will come together to make up a joint bargaining team. In addition, labor unions can resort to a labor dispute when more than a majority of members of labor unions which participated in the process of making up the single bargaining channel approves the dispute.
The act made it a principle to have a single bargaining channel, however all unions can have bargaining power when employers agree. They also can have a separate industrial bargaining on the condition that employers agree. Also, in the case of industrial unions that have bargaining power as of the end of this year, bargaining channel unification will be implemented in July 2012, one year later than the implementation of allowing union pluralism.
In addition, given that controversy may occur on the effectiveness of the existing collective bargaining agreement, a supplementary provision stipulates that the existing CBAs will be effective up to two years from June next year. When organization target groups and working conditions are very different like non-regular workers, the labor relations commission will decide on the matter of separating their bargaining units.
Under the time-off system, the scope of work hour exemption of full-time union officials is confined to only △ labor-management joint activities (bargaining, negotiation, grievance handling, occupational safety, etc.) and △ activities for maintaining and operating unions. The phrase proposed by the ruling Grand National Party, ‘Ordinary union operating activities set by the presidential decree’ was deleted in the agreement and instead, it was expressed as ‘maintaining and operating activities for the development of sound labor-management relations’, stressing the soundness of union’s activities for increasing membership and education.
The revision bill in particular has articles that requests exceeding the time-off system cannot be used as a reason for strike by unions and also stipulates that ‘time-off system review committee’ should be established under the Ministry of Labor, composed of 15 members, five from each labor, employers and public interest groups, will decide on the upper limitation of the time-off system. The review committee is convened every three years and when labor and management fail to reach an agreement on the upper limit at the first place, then public interest members will decide on it.
