Ex-labor minister slams 'Yellow Envelope Law' as self-inflicted wound, says even Roh and Moon wouldn't touch it

Former Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Chae-pil [The Herald Business DB]

Lee Chae-pil, a former minister of employment and labor, sharply criticized the Lee Jae Myung administration over the confusion that has emerged in workplaces since the amended labor union law — widely known as the "Yellow Envelope Law" — took effect, saying it was "the result of pushing through legislation that even the Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in governments refused to touch."

Lee posted a lengthy piece on his Facebook page Wednesday under the title "The paradox and self-inflicted regret of the Yellow Envelope Law — amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act — that even the Roh and Moon governments wouldn't do," arguing that remarks President Lee Jae Myung made at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday and the recent conduct of Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon were at odds with each other. Lee Chae-pil was appointed minister of employment and labor in the final stretch of the Lee Myung-bak administration and served until just before the Park Geun-hye government took office.

Lee first took aim at President Lee's remarks at the Cabinet meeting, in which the president expressed skepticism about demands for "N% performance bonuses," questioning whether distributing a fixed share of operating profit could legitimately be considered a subject of labor dispute. He then pointed to Minister Kim's recent role in facilitating labor-management dialogue at workplaces where bonus disputes had flared, and criticized what he called a glaring contradiction: "The president calls it a 'dispute-breeding law,' yet the minister acts as if it were a 'dialogue-promotion law.'"

Lee also took issue with the president's call for the government to establish clearer standards, saying it amounted to "self-reproach for having abandoned the government's own duty to set specific and clear rules." He added that the minister, meanwhile, "is trying to twist arms and intervene in matters beyond his authority, turning what should be labor-management autonomy into a government-managed relationship." He went on to say that "the answer to flawed, hasty legislation is for those who made the mess to clean it up," adding that "the union law must be corrected, even now."

On Tuesday, President Lee directed Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon at a Cabinet meeting, citing demands by Samsung Electronics' cross-enterprise union to negotiate over the construction of a semiconductor fab in Gwangju, as well as large conglomerate unions' calls for "N% performance bonuses," and said, "The scope of what qualifies as a labor dispute seems to be expanding far too broadly." He also instructed Kim to "not leave everything to court rulings, but instead establish clear standards through presidential decrees, enforcement regulations, or administrative guidelines."

Minister Kim met with reporters at Government Complex Sejong on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of his appointment, saying he would "faithfully carry out the president's instructions" and that, on the occasion of the law's 100th day in effect, he would "closely examine how it is settling in on the ground and thoroughly explain the intent of the law, focusing on key issues such as the Samsung Electronics cross-enterprise union case."

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