85th extraordinary delegates' assembly convened

Deliberation conditional on consensus-based operations, industry-level participation and name change

[Korean Confederation of Trade Unions]
[Korean Confederation of Trade Unions]

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions will hold an extraordinary delegates' assembly on Oct. 7 to decide whether to pursue social bargaining, including possible participation in the Economic, Social and Labor Council. The vote could bring the KCTU back into institutionalized tripartite dialogue 27 years after it withdrew from the council's predecessor body in 1999.

According to labor sources, the KCTU will convene its 85th extraordinary delegates' assembly at 1 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the Grand Ballroom of KINTEX Exhibition Hall 1 in Ilsan, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.

The agenda includes a motion on "pursuing social bargaining" along with other items. Although the KCTU did not explicitly name the Economic, Social and Labor Council in the agenda, the assembly is widely understood to be the venue where the union will decide whether to join the council — on the condition that a new social bargaining body is first established.

At its central executive committee meeting in July, the KCTU resolved not to join the council in its current form but to push for a restructured social bargaining body with a new name and a reformed decision-making structure. The confederation has called for deliberation and consensus to replace voting, and for industry-level unions to participate directly in tripartite discussions.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has signaled agreement with the broad direction of reform — consensus-based operations, greater focus on sector- and industry-specific agendas, and a name change. However, a significant number of voices within the KCTU consider the ministry's proposals insufficient, and the central executive committee that met Thursday was unable to reach a conclusion.

Even if the delegates' assembly passes the social bargaining motion, additional negotiations with the government will be needed before the KCTU formally joins the council. Opposition remains within the confederation, with some members arguing that social dialogue could be used to extract concessions from labor and rubber-stamp government policy.

Meanwhile, separately from the council participation debate, the KCTU has agreed to take part in a single-issue social dialogue on labor exemptions in mega special economic zones. The government, the two major union federations and business representatives held their first working-level meeting Tuesday afternoon behind closed doors to discuss the format and agenda for the talks.


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