Applications surge fourfold as 'fragmented bargaining' requests flood in; regional labor boards approve roughly half of 35 cases ruled on so far
Nearly three months after the so-called Yellow Envelope Law — the revised Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act — took effect, applications to separate bargaining units have surged from early levels. With labor boards continuing to broadly accept union demands, business groups warn that the risk of year-round "fragmented bargaining" is becoming a reality.
According to data the National Labor Relations Commission submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday, a total of 161 bargaining-unit separation requests have been filed since the law took effect.
Bargaining-unit separation is a system that allows workers to form separate unions and bargain individually with an employer when employment conditions differ among employee groups. The surge in applications follows the law's enforcement decree, which has in effect gutted the single bargaining-channel regime.
Filings were slow in the law's early days — just 39 applications had been recorded two days after it took effect — but that figure has since grown nearly fourfold.
In the initial period, subcontractor unions focused more on demanding direct bargaining with parent companies, with 453 such demands logged at the time. They now appear to have strategically shifted toward pursuing bargaining-unit separation instead.
"It looks like the applications picked up in earnest after each union went through internal discussions on whether separating bargaining units would be more advantageous," a labor sector official said.
Labor authorities appear broadly inclined to approve separation requests. Regional labor boards have ruled on 35 cases so far, approving 17 — exactly half — and rejecting 18.
Legal experts say the criteria for granting bargaining-unit separation under the revised law are vague and permissive. The law sets out three conditions under which a separation request may be approved: when unions have differing interests; when one union cannot adequately represent another; or when keeping unions within the same bargaining unit could generate conflict between unions or between labor and management.
The third condition has drawn the most criticism. Legal observers say the "possibility of conflict" standard is too abstract and susceptible to abuse. Business groups warn that widespread bargaining-unit separation could create an environment of perpetual strikes.
By Park Hye-won
klee@heraldcorp.com
