Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon [Yonhap]
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon [Yonhap]

The first open pushback from labor circles has emerged over plans to establish a so-called "K-Labor Chamber." Critics argue that the three fundamental labor rights of special-employment and platform workers must be guaranteed before any new chamber is created.

Kim Ju-hwan, a former chairman of the National Designated Driver Workers' Union, said Tuesday on his SNS account that the government should "guarantee the basic labor rights of 2.1 million special-employment, platform and freelance workers before talking about a labor chamber."

"Delivery riders, designated drivers, webtoon artists and broadcast writers are all trying to form unions," Kim said. He added that a certificate of union registration for a writers' union — a process that should take three days — had been left unresolved for more than 100 days.

He also said efforts to extend minimum wage coverage to labor-service providers, which workers had been pushing as a matter of survival, had stalled. "Before creating a labor chamber, the right to form a union and the three fundamental labor rights must be guaranteed first," he said.

Kim also raised concerns that the labor chamber could end up replacing, rather than complementing, existing unions. Some in labor circles have argued that creating a separate system and organization instead of expanding coverage under the Labor Standards Act amounts to a roundabout approach, and that the chamber's focus on welfare and mutual-aid functions makes it little different from the "Labor Vulnerable Workers Support and Protection Act" pursued under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon put forward the proposal Monday at a national fiscal strategy meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung. Kim proposed establishing a "K-Labor Chamber" to serve labor-service providers — including platform workers and freelancers — who are difficult to cover through conventional unions. The plan envisions enacting a basic law on the rights of working people and building an organization around it to handle rights protection, welfare and mutual-aid functions, thereby expanding the social safety net.

The government believes that with about 8.69 million people earning income from repeated personal-service work, the existing labor law framework alone is insufficient to protect the diverse range of labor-service providers. The plan calls for the labor chamber to serve as a delivery mechanism linking various policies — including support for social insurance enrollment, legal aid, mutual aid and vocational training. There is also discussion inside and outside labor circles about the possibility of eventually expanding the organization into a nationwide network of regional branches.

However, the possibility of a labor backlash had already been raised at the fiscal strategy meeting itself. President Lee asked Minister Kim, "Aren't there objections to the labor chamber?" and "It seems like it won't be easy to persuade the labor community."

Kim acknowledged that "there were in fact objections that creating a labor chamber might lower union membership rates," but said that "the number of atypical workers in non-traditional employment relationships is growing, and workers without an employer — such as freelancers — are not easy to organize through conventional unions."


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