DP, liberal allies pass contentious bill to stop companies from suing workers over strikes

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DP, liberal allies pass contentious bill to stop companies from suing workers over strikes

Published: 05 Aug. 2024, 17:05

MICHAEL LEE
lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr

A bill restricting companies from suing workers for losses incurred during legal strikes passes in a 177-2 vote at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Monday, after the conservative People Power Party exited the main chamber of the legislature in protest. [YONHAP]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its allies in the National Assembly passed a bill on Monday restricting companies from suing workers for losses incurred during legal strikes despite a boycott by the conservative People Power Party (PPP).

The amendment to the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, also known as the “yellow envelope bill” in domestic media, passed in a 177-2 vote after PPP lawmakers walked out from the main chamber of the legislature in protest of the bill.

The legislation’s nickname was derived from yellow envelopes containing 47,000 won ($34) that were donated by civic groups to unionized workers at SsangYong Motor after they were ordered by the Supreme Court in 2014 to pay 4.7 billion won in compensation to their company for losses it incurred when they went on a strike, which was later ruled illegal, to oppose mass layoffs five years earlier.

The bill has been fiercely opposed by business associations and the PPP, who argue that it would not only prevent companies from seeking legal recourse against employees who go on illegal strikes but also encourage workers to undertake collective action with impunity.

The government-aligned PPP has urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the bill, which would require the DP to muster the support of two-thirds of the National Assembly, or 200 lawmakers, to override the president’s opposition.

The president already rejected a similar bill in December last year at the urging of the PPP and business lobbies.

PPP officials also asked that the president reject another DP-sponsored bill passed by the National Assembly on Friday that would distribute cash handouts ranging between 250,000 and 350,000 won to every household.

Speaking at a meeting of the PPP’s Supreme Council on Monday, party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho characterized the DP’s passage of multiple controversial bills as “legislative tyranny.”

Choo said he “strongly recommends” that the president reject both the cash handout bill and the yellow envelope bill, which the PPP floor leader characterized as “a law that encourages illegal strikes.”

In a statement released on July 22, Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik also expressed his opposition to the yellow envelope bill, calling it “a piece of legislation that strengthens the vested interests of a select few labor unions while engendering conflict and confusion at places of employment.”

Lee argued that “illegal strikes fall outside of the scope of protection offered by the Constitution” and that union workers who organize such actions “should bear the same liability as members of the general public.”

The yellow envelope bill is the latest legislation railroaded through the assembly by the DP and its allies despite repeated filibusters mounted by the PPP.

Besides the cash handout bill, the DP-led liberal majority recently passed four consecutive bills to reduce the government’s influence over the state media watchdog and public broadcasters KBS, MBC and EBS.

The DP and its allies also filed an impeachment motion against Lee Jin-sook, the recently appointed chair of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), for nominating directors of KBS and board members of the foundation that controls MBC while three seats on the five-member commission remain empty.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]