President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday that distributing a fixed share of a company's operating profit does not constitute a legitimate subject of labor dispute, and that he personally leans toward that view.

Lee also weighed in on a union's stance that Samsung Electronics' plan to build a semiconductor factory on the site of the Gwangju military airport cannot proceed without union consent. "If you follow that logic, there is nothing in the exercise of any company's management rights that could not be made relevant," he said. The remarks were widely read as an open expression of concern that unions are pushing the scope of labor disputes too far.

Lee raised the issue while presiding over the 31st Cabinet meeting, directing his remarks at Kim Young-hoon, minister of employment and labor, regarding Samsung Electronics' plan to establish a semiconductor factory on the Gwangju military airport site.

"There are reports that the existing union is claiming the semiconductor factory plan for the Gwangju military airport is subject to labor-management negotiations and labor dispute — and that, in extreme terms, the message is: 'If you don't get our consent, don't go. You can't go,'" Lee said. "Our citizens are stunned."

He then said the issue raises several questions. "Can an individual union really make this the subject of a so-called labor dispute, a strike, and other forms of struggle? Is it socially justifiable? There can be that kind of conflict," he said. "Whether it is socially valid will be sorted out through debate, but isn't it very important to ask whether this can be grounds for a strike?"

Lee said the logic had no natural stopping point. "If you follow that reasoning, there is nothing in the exercise of any company's management rights that could not be connected," he said. "On the question of inheritance, for example — if someone says, 'Selling to that person could make them a bad employer and worsen working conditions,' then even the sale of management rights becomes an issue. Go down that road and there is no end to it."

Lee said the government would ultimately need to set clear standards. His remarks were understood as a call for the administration to define the boundaries of labor disputes through enforcement decrees and other policy measures.

"The scope seems to be expanding too broadly," Lee said. "In particular, whether distributing a fixed percentage of operating profit is subject to dispute — personally, I lean toward thinking it is not."

He added that the view was his own. "That is just my personal opinion," he said. "And so, providing certain standards on labor law — that, too, is the government's role."

Lee urged the administration to resolve the matter within the bounds of legislative intent, without waiting for the National Assembly to act.

"Each ministry seems to think that if the Assembly doesn't act, nothing can be done to set the standards," he said. "The primary standards are set by legislation, but it is the administration's job to give concrete form to those legislative standards."

Lee returned to the question of profit-sharing. "Whether a certain percentage of operating profit can be subject to dispute — this is something even shareholders cannot demand," he said. "Whether it can or cannot be done is now a live controversy, and workplaces across the country are arguing over it. There are quite a few workplaces debating whether to strike over this."

On that point, Lee said the government has a position of its own to offer. "We are not mere errand-runners. We are a principal executive organ of the state, co-equal with the legislature," he said. "As one of the three co-equal branches, it would be better to spell things out clearly in advance — through enforcement decrees, presidential decrees, enforcement rules, and Ministry of Employment and Labor guidelines — as the Constitution authorizes."

He also said the lack of detailed standards under labor law was fueling political conflict. "Because detailed standards have not been set and disputes keep arising, it is becoming fodder for political battles," Lee said. "Ensuring that the law itself is not made to look flawed — that, too, is an important role for the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Setting the standards well."


moone@heraldcorp.com