Delegates to decide Oct. 7 whether to pursue social negotiations

Leadership warns delay past union elections could push decision to late next year

KCTU demands labor conditions be included in mega-special zone policy from scratch

President Lee Jae Myung speaks with Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Chairman Yang Kyung-soo at a meeting hosted at Cheong Wa Dae. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung speaks with Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Chairman Yang Kyung-soo at a meeting hosted at Cheong Wa Dae. [Yonhap]

The leadership of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) says the union must enter government negotiations before key policies are finalized, arguing that the spread of artificial intelligence and the push for mega-special economic zones are already reshaping jobs and working conditions.

With a delegate assembly set for next week to decide whether to pursue social negotiations, the leadership has been publicly making the case for engagement. The KCTU says the mega-special zone policy is skewed toward corporate support and that employment, safety and residential conditions for workers must also be on the table.

According to labor sources Wednesday, the KCTU will hold its 85th extraordinary delegate assembly at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, at 1 p.m. on Oct. 7 to deliberate on a proposal to pursue social negotiations. The agenda calls for the union to negotiate with the government on three principles — consensus-based operations, guaranteed participation by industry-level unions, and a change to the body's name — and, if agreement is reached, to join the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC) to work through legislative and institutional reforms.

Ahead of the assembly, the leadership has gone public with its push against deferring the decision until after the next round of union elections. KCTU Vice Chairman Lee Yang-su wrote on his SNS account Tuesday that the union was raising the issue of social negotiations "in order to bring labor's concerns into the public arena and intervene in how they are addressed."

Lee cited the mass production of robots — what he called physical AI — and the broader industrial transition, saying the government intends to finalize policies affecting the future of labor by year's end, including AI adoption, mega-special zone designations and the creation of a future-response fund. "They will not wait for us," he said, warning that major policy decisions could be made while the KCTU remains on the sidelines.

He also noted that after the elections, executive leadership at the national level, regional offices and many industry-level unions would turn over, requiring organizational discussions to start from scratch. He said the earliest a decision on social negotiations could realistically be made after the elections would be the second half of next year, adding: "Timing matters in both struggle and negotiation."

KCTU Chairman Yang Kyung-soo has also said that policy should not proceed without negotiations with workers amid the spread of AI and industrial transformation. A survey released earlier found that 80 percent of union members who responded agreed on the need for social negotiations — a result that has added momentum to the push. However, agreement on the need for social negotiations does not necessarily translate into support for joining the current ESLC structure.

The policy direction the KCTU is seeking to shape through dialogue was also evident in a statement it released Tuesday on the mega-project initiative. The union called for worker employment and safety to be built into the policy design, responding to President Lee Jae Myung's remarks at a mega-project review meeting Tuesday in which he emphasized quality of life and settlement conditions for residents.

The KCTU said that for workers, settlement conditions mean not the ability of companies to build factories quickly, but stable employment, safe working conditions and the ability to settle with their families. The union put forward specific demands: the right to work healthy hours within the 52-hour weekly limit, stable employment, industrial accident prevention, reduced commuting and housing burdens, and greater job access for local youth.

The union criticized the government for advancing concrete measures on deregulation of permits, taxes and equity rules for businesses, as well as financial support, while leaving workers and residents without adequate protections. It said that social dialogue on the mega-special zones should not start from an expectation that labor will accept pre-set labor exemptions, but should instead open from scratch to determine what to ease and what to preserve. The message was that even if the KCTU joins social negotiations, it will not simply accept the government's labor exemption agenda.

Actual re-entry into the ESLC would still require agreement on restructuring the body. The government is sympathetic to the intent behind the KCTU's three principles but favors having the union join the ESLC first and then working out reforms from within. Concerns also remain inside the KCTU that social dialogue could end up rubber-stamping government policy or becoming a vehicle for extracting concessions from labor.

The KCTU withdrew from the Labor-Management-Government Council — the predecessor to the ESLC — in February 1999. The upcoming assembly is seen as a watershed moment for a potential return after 27 years, though even if the proposal passes, the union would need further talks with the government before formally rejoining.

Meanwhile, separately from the ESLC discussions, the KCTU is participating in a single-issue social dialogue focused on labor exemptions in the mega-special zones. The government, the two major union federations and business representatives held their first working-level meeting Sept. 22 to discuss how the dialogue would be structured and what issues it would cover.


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