Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon answers a question from President Lee Jae Myung at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon answers a question from President Lee Jae Myung at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said Wednesday the government would move quickly to establish guidelines for implementing the revised Trade Union Act — commonly known as the "Yellow Envelope Law" — to minimize confusion on the ground following its enactment. The announcement follows a public directive from President Lee Jae Myung ordering the government to set clear standards, prompted by a Samsung Electronics union's demand to include construction of a new semiconductor factory in Gwangju in collective bargaining, as well as demands from major conglomerate unions for "N percent" profit-linked bonuses.

Kim met with reporters Wednesday and said, "The president has given the order, so of course we must follow through," adding that the ministry would create opportunities to better explain the intent of the law to labor and management at the workplace, citing the Samsung Electronics enterprise-wide union's recent demands as an example requiring clarification.

At a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, President Lee directed Kim to "not leave everything to the courts, but have the government set the standards through presidential decrees, enforcement regulations, or administrative guidelines."

Lee expressed particular concern over the Samsung Electronics union's move to make construction of new factories related to the Honam semiconductor cluster a subject of collective bargaining. "In the extreme, this could be understood to mean that a factory cannot be built without union consent," he said. "If that is the case, every exercise of a company's management rights could become a subject of labor dispute."

The president's remarks reflect a determination to prevent labor-management conflict from becoming an obstacle to the government's "three mega-projects," a core growth strategy.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said the labor community's claim that the Honam semiconductor factory falls within the scope of a labor dispute was "certainly a position they are entitled to raise," but added that the president's remarks were intended to direct a concrete review of how such concerns should be reflected in labor law and related regulations.

Lee's skepticism toward the claim was also evident from his Tuesday remark: "It seems the argument is that the Gwangju factory is a subject of labor dispute — but by that logic, there is nothing in any company's exercise of management rights that would be unrelated." Sources said the president holds a strongly negative view of treating such matters as legitimate subjects of labor dispute.

The Labor Ministry said it is focused not on creating new standards but on making existing interpretive guidelines more specific.

The interpretive guidelines for the revised Trade Union Act already specify that management decisions — such as corporate investment, mergers, splits, or transfers — fall within the employer's management prerogative and are not in themselves subject to labor dispute. However, management decisions that directly affect workers' rights and conditions in the course of building a new factory or relocating operations — such as transfers or changes to working conditions — can be subject to labor dispute, the ministry said.

President Lee also drew a line against the growing "N percent" bonus demands. Unions at Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, HD Hyundai Heavy, Kakao and LG Uplus are among those demanding that a fixed percentage of operating profit or net profit for the period be paid out as performance bonuses.

A ruling party official said the move was meant to "draw a clear line for workers," adding that "unlike wage negotiations and other matters that can clearly be subjects of labor dispute, crossing the line — on issues like bonuses or factory relocations — means those cannot be on the agenda." The official said, "The Lee Jae Myung administration is still a labor-friendly government. However, it cannot be labor-friendly to the point of taking on things that simply do not belong."

In academia, critics say the Yellow Envelope Law's vague delineation between management rights and working conditions has fueled confusion on the ground. Park Ji-soon, a professor at Korea University School of Law, said "the phrase 'management decisions that affect working conditions' is excessively broad," adding that it "has given unions a foothold to intervene in management judgment."

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions said Tuesday that "what the government should be doing is not creating new restrictions on the scope of labor disputes, but enforcing the law in a way that faithfully guarantees fundamental labor rights in line with the legislative intent of the revised Trade Union Act," and called on the government to "respect the legislative intent of the Yellow Envelope Law, which is to expand fundamental labor rights."

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions also criticized the president's remarks, saying they "frontally deny the legislative intent of the Yellow Envelope Law and reflect a deeply troubling view that seeks to restrict workers' legitimate exercise of their rights."


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