KEF Against Multiple Trade Unions

Multiple trade unions in the same company, which are now occurring as a result of M&As, are causing controversy. Multiple unions in a local work place are technical illegal but the recent series of M&As has created many such conditions.
The Korean Employers Federation (KEF) held a meeting related to labor affairs and held to their policy which does not admit multiple trade unions. KEF indicated that when M&As occur among companies, the unions should be disbanded or merge into one union.
KEF plans to induce a policy that would prohibit management from collective bargaining or negotiating with a union, until the unions are integrated into one and if that is not forthcoming to allow management to negotiate with the union of their choice.
Additionally, the KEF passed a resolution that companies will revise the respective collective agreements into one. KEF considers that more than one collective agreement in a work place is unreasonable.
Kim Yong Bae, a high-ranking executive at KEF said, 'The matter of multiple trade unions is an obstacle to many business activities including M&As among financial institutions, 'Big Deal', and foreign company investment. We plan to propose to the government to accept today's decision.' However, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) is expected to cause a great deal of friction between chaebols. A source at the MOL said, 'Multiple trade unions are illegal. But, to ignore the existing unions would violate the Labor Standard Law, because there is no law to restrict multiple unions which inevitably occur.'