Follow-up to the Non Regular Work Law and Related Key Programs in 2008

8/14/2019 Follow-up to the Non Regular Work Law and Related Key Programs in 2008

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Follow-up to the Non-Regular Work Law and Related

Key Programs in 2008

Chung, Hyung-Woo

Director of the Non-Regular Workers Policy Division,

Ministry of Labor

1. Introduction

The law on non-regular work, which took effect on July 1st, 2007, has

been in place for about 8 months. It was not that the law gained full

support from all interested parties from the beginning: especially

when a large company contracted out the work which had been

performed by its employees until then, simply to evade its obligation

under the new law to narrow the gap between regular and non-regular

employees, the resulting labor dispute came to light in the media,


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causing misunderstandings and distrust of the law's purposes.

However, since its enaction, approximately 68,000 non-regular

workers in public sector have become regular workers, and about

27,000 non-regular workers in private sector, notably including banks,

hospitals and distributors, have obtained a job under an indefinite-

term contract or become regular workers, all with better working

conditions. With regard to the arrangements of discrimination

remedies, the applications for such remedies have been made by the

workers of influential sectors such as railway service and part-time

lecturers and, in some cases, the applicants were found to have been

discriminated in employment. Consequently, the merit of the

discrimination remedies system is attracting more attention. To sum

up, the non-regular work law, despite its short history, has not only

succeeded in gaining people's understanding about the need to

resolve discrimination against and abuse of non-regular workers, but

is also functioning as a minimum legal framework to address the

growing gap in the labor market.

2. Key problems raised in relation to the enforcement of the

law


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It is true, however, that employers and workers make different

evaluations about the law, understandably as they are in different

positions. Thanks to the intensive efforts to inform employers,

workers and the general public of the non-regular work law and

disseminate the example cases of discrimination remedies, a growing

number of people have accepted the need to address discrimination

against non-regular workers. Still, the labor community is opposed to

the law, arguing that the discrimination remedies system is not

effective enough as it does not cover in-company subcontracted work

and entitles only individual workers to apply for discrimination

remedies. On the other hand, the business community complains that

the requirements under the system increase employers' financial

burden.

Moreover, the labor community insists that, given the several cases

where employers use in-company subcontracted work simply to

bypass their requirements under the discrimination remedies system,

effective measures should be undertaken to prevent those practices.

On the contrary, the business community resists the notion of

restraining the use of in-company subcontracted work, reasoning that

such restraint would make the labor market too rigid.


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The provisions banning the abuse of non-regular work, which is one

of the pillars of the law, have facilitated regularization of some non-

regular jobs, especially in public sector and in larger private-sector

companies (with 300 employees or more). Nevertheless, with regard

to the time limit on use of non-regular work and the scope of work

permitted for temporary agency work, the law is being criticized for

its insufficiency in labor market flexibility (by employers) and job

security (by employees). Accordingly, the proposal is gaining

acceptance that the discrimination remedies system for non-regular

workers should be retained with stronger authority while the

provisions banning abuse of non-regular work should be amended to

allow for more flexibility in the labor market.

According to the Supplement to the Economically Active Population

Survey, which was conducted in August 2007, non-regular workers

numbered 5,703,000 persons or 35.9% of the entire wage workers.

Their monthly pay averaged only 63.5% of that of comparable regular

workers. What is the worst, only 18.6% of the non-regular workers

took job-related training or education, with the result that they have

limited access to the opportunity of moving to a better job.


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3. Directions of the key programs in 2008

To begin with, the discrimination remedies system will be extended

to cover the companies with 100~299 employees on July 1st, 2008.

Presently, this group of companies employ about 444,000 non-regular

workers, which accounts for 7.8% of all non-regular workforce and is

larger in number than the 358,000 non-regular workers in the

companies with 300 employees or more. Clearly, the former

companies are much weaker in their ability to pay than the latter. In

response, the Government is considering a variety of assistance and

subsidies for the smaller companies.

It is useful to restate the issues raised in relation to the non-regular

work legislation: workers insist that the current system of

discrimination remedies should be supplemented and additional

measures should be undertaken to resolve the problem of in-company

subcontracted work, whereas employers demand that the time limit

on use of non-regular work should be eased (presently, when a worker

on fixed-term contract or a temporary agency worker is employed by

the same employer or user employer for longer than 2 years, the

worker on fixed-term contract shall be treated as a worker on


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indefinite-term contract and the temporary agency worker shall be

treated as being directly employed by the user employer) and that

the scope of work permitted for temporary agency work should be

increased. However, the parties remain widely divided over these

issues. A look back at the 5-year process which started in July 2001

for enactment of the law on non-regular work (2 years for discussions

at the Korea Tripartite Commission; 1 year for drawing up the

Government bill and submitting it for the Parliamentary approval; and

2 years for the Parliamentary review ) would tell that supplementing

the current systems will be a really difficult work to do. Therefore, it is

necessary that how far and when the supplementary systems will be

introduced should be determined with great caution after the issues

are subject to the process of public debate at the Economic and Social

Development Commission. At present, the "Committee on Follow-up

to the Non-Regular Work Act" under the Commission is discussing the

best ways possible to 'respond to the tendency of contracting-out in

the labor market with increased flexibility' and 'increase labor

flexibility from the perspective of labor market aspects'. In this light, it

is advisable that these discussions should be a starting point from

which both parties narrow their differences and work towards a

common ground of understanding.


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Meanwhile, there is a growing need for temporary agency work,

largely as a result of higher flexibility in employment (as of June 2007,

there were 72,777 temporary agency workers). The problems are,

however, that this kind of work is heavily represented by low-pay and

less-skilled jobs, such as secretaries and typists; temporary work

agencies usually provide workers in a low-price bidding, due to their

small scale and the high competition in temporary work agency

industry; and that they deduct a disproportionately high rate of

commission from what they receive from the user employer to pay

the worker. These problems suggest that it is necessary to encourage

the agencies to regulate themselves and improve working conditions;

to help their consumers, that is, user employers and temporary

agency workers, make an informed choice; and to increase

transparency in the labor market of temporary agency work, by

promoting good practices of business and a larger size of

establishments. In response, the Government will introduce the

system of certifying good temporary work agencies in 2008: such

temporary work agencies as are recognized for their contribution to

creating a more sound and more transparent market of temporary

agency work by making efforts to increase job security of temporary

agency workers, develop their skills and improve working conditions,

will be awarded the certification. The agencies certified as good


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companies will be also included in the publication of example cases,

so that they will have a good chance to improve their reputation.

The severity of the non-regular work issue in Korea is derived from

the fact that non-regular workers find it very difficult to escape from

the "trap of non-regular work". More specifically, in other OCED

nations, an average 30% of non-regular workers move to a regular

job, while the corresponding figure is only 15% in Korea. Accordingly,

it is very crucial for the Korean Government to devise and implement

such measures, in terms of skills development and employment

service, as will give non-regular workers easier access to regular jobs.

Indeed, the Government, in a bid to address these needs, announced

the "Comprehensive Plan to Improve Non-regular Work" in September

2006, which envisions the employee skills development card system,

tailored job placement service programs for non-regular workers and

extended coverage of social insurances. As the law is not a cure-all

but simply provides a framework, the Comprehensive Plan will be

supplemented and reinforced for increased effectiveness in 2008. For

example, the Government support will be given, not only to non-

regular workers, but also to their employers, in order to facilitate the

employers' participation in the job skills development programs

without financial burden. Additionally, the employee skills


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development card system will be updated so that more non-regular

workers may develop their job skills for a wider range of occupations.

This system will be integrated into the 'lifelong skills development

account system' in the 2nd half of 2008, for the purpose of more

systematic support for job skills development.

4. Conclusion

Given that the employers and workers are still widely divided over

the implementation of the non-regular work law, it is likely that it is

not an easy task at all to formulate and carry out the policies and

programs regarding non-regular work this year. It should be noted,

however, that the efforts to ensure more protection of non-regular

workers' interests and rights must be made by the employers and

workers themselves, as well as by the Government.

As the system of discrimination remedies is to be extended to cover

the companies with 100~299 employees starting from July this year,

the Government will focus its effort to educational and advertising

activities to ensure that the purposes and terms of the non-regular

work law are clearly and easily understood. In addition, with a view to


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facilitating voluntary compliance by the employers and workers with

the law provisions, the Government will conclude an MOU on

education programs with the relevant associations or organizations.

The statistics on non-regular work will be updated so that the data

can be used as the basic reference for formulation of relevant policy

measures and analysis of the policy consequences. Moreover, specific

working conditions of the different types of non-regular work, such as

fixed-term and part-time work, will be identified, and the current

status of the indirect employment will be examined, in an effort to

innovate the statistics infrastructure related to non-regular work.

Furthermore, considering that it is likely that the statistical figures

about the number of non-regular workers hired by the companies with

fewer than 100 employees (to which the system of discrimination

remedies will be applied beginning 2009) do not give us a right

picture, the Government will make a fact-finding investigation in this

regard. The key elements of such investigation will be the attitude

toward non-regular work, employment conditions (length of service,

wage, benefits, etc.), job security and the extent and causes of

discrimination against non-regular work.


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Most importantly, the employers and workers need to be open-

minded and ready to communicate and cooperate with each other to

resolve the pending issues on a gradual basis so that the original

purposes of the non-regular work law may be implemented and the

institutions may function properly at workplaces at the earliest time

possible, especially given that the law is a product of the 5-year

process of dialogues and compromises. Employers should make

efforts to address discrimination and increase job security, which will

increase workers' commitment and morale and, ultimately, improve

the corporate productivity and competitiveness. On the other hand,

tegular workers and unions should make reasonable concessions for

the benefit of non-regular workers, sympathetic of the difficulties that

they have suffered so far; and non-regular workers should not rush to

get what they want at a time, but rather wait for gradual

improvements in their working conditions. The cases of Woori Bank,

Busan Bank and the health care sector in the last year are good

examples in which the 'spirit of sharing and concession' can be found.

For the ultimate goal of building a hopeful nation for all, we need to be

cooperative and considerate under a win-win strategy. This is the fastest

way to ride over conflicts and open a new chapter of harmony and unity.

Follow-up to the Non Regular Work Law and Related Key Programs in 2008

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