Atypical Employment in Korea ITUC-AP/ILO Regional Workshop on Decent Work in Informal Economy Nov 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU)

The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (1) The number of atypical workers (unit: persons, %) MenWomenTotal Regular Workers5,095,1172,340,0837,435, Atypical Workers4,142,2534,415,9348,558, Total9,237,3706,756,01715,993,

The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (2) Scope of atypical workers - Regular work 46.5% - Ordinary temporary work 19.3% - Fixed-term work 14.0% - Regular part-time work 0.1% - Temporary part-time work 5.5%, - On-call work 5.1%, - Workers in special employment arrangement (Disguised self-employed: ex. insurance salespersons, golf course caddies, self-employed truck drivers) 3.6% - Temporary agency work 1.1-3% - Contract work 3.9% - Work at home 0.9%

The Extent and Scope of Atypical Employment (3) - The percentage of non-regular workers dropped to 53.5% in 2008 from 58.6% in However, it still accounts for more than 50% of the total workforce Number (1,000 persons) 7,7237,8428,1568,4048,4468,6148,558 Percentage (%)

Conditions of Atypical Workers Monthly Wages - Regular workers: 2,470,000 KRW - Atypical Workers: 1,240,000 KRW (50.2% of regular workers’ wages) Social Insurance Coverage & Other Working Conditions National Pension Scheme Health Insurance Employment Insurance Severance Pay BonusPaid Leaves Regular Workers 98.7%99.3%82.6%99.3%97.3%86.4% Atypical Workers 33.3%35.0%32.2%22.3%21.0%19.0%

Labor Law on Atypical Work (1) The Act Concerning Protection of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees (effective since 1 July 2007) Key Elements of the Law - Non-discrimination: “An Employer may not discriminate against his/her non-regular employees (whether they are on a fixed-term contract, part-timers or dispatched workers) in terms of working conditions including pay.” - Duration of service for fixed-term employees: “The maximum duration of service of an employee on a fixed-term contract shall be limited to 2 years and in the event of a longer duration of service, the employee involved shall be treated as an employee on an indefinite term contract”

Labor Law on Atypical Work (2) - Restrictions on overtime work of part-time employees: “An employer may not have his/her part-time employee work overtime hours exceeding the given number of working hours unless he/she has obtained consent from the employee. In any case, a part-time employee may not work longer than 12 hours in overtime per week.” - Remedies for discriminative treatment ◦ A fixed-term or part-time employee may make an application for remedies for discriminative treatment to the Labor Relations Commission no later than 3 months from the date of the discriminative treatment. ◦ In the dispute-setting process, the burden of proof on discrimination is on the employer.

Labor Law on Atypical Work (3) Positive Effects - Change of employment status from fixed-term workers to infinite-term workers Negative Effects - Outsourcing of atypical workers’ work - Termination of fixed-term workers’ contracts

Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Union density of atypical workers: 3.0% (total workers 11.7%, regular workers 23.3%) Difficulties - Fixed-term workers: refusal of employment renewal by employers in case of termination of contract term - Disguised self-employed: denial of existence of employment by de facto employers - Temporary agency workers: evasion of responsibility by agency employers and user employers

FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (1) Job Placement Centers established by Ministry of Labor in 1998 to tackle high unemployment after IMF financial crisis. 1,800 job counselors employed as atypical workers (1-year fixed term basis) - Main work: management of employment insurance and counseling on job placement

FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (2) Background of establishment of trade union - Announcement of structural restructuring by MOL (lay- offs) - Reason: difficult to control and manage job counselors (too many in numbers compared with regular public servants: job counselors 1800 / public servants 500)

FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (3) Establishment of Trade Union - Established in July ,500 persons joined (out of 1,800) - 6 regional offices and 46 sub-regional offices nationwide Collective Bargaining - First CBA concluded in Priority decided: Securing regular worker status -> strong opposition by regular public servants - Wage demands -> no responses by employers (Regional offices of MOL)

FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (4) General Strike - Strike funds collected: USD400 / per 1 member - Industrial action ballot by all members (90.4% in favor of strike) - Insincere and unfaithful attitudes by MOL unchanged - Guidance on general strike announced and vigils/demonstrations launched - General strike launched in FKTU Central Education Center on 6 Oct Strong protests continued: ex. President had his hair shaved

FKTU Experiences in Organizing Atypical Workers – Job Counselors’ Union (5) CBA Concluded Proposed agreement agreed by union members’ ballot (with the approval of 83.3%) and CBA concluded on 13 Oct 2003) 17% raise in basic salary Retirement age Change of employment status from fixed-term workers and infinite-term workers Expansion of promotion Group insurance coverage Guarantee of trade union activities Assistance for job competency training Betterment of working conditions Securing union shop

Proposed Activities for Organizing and Educating Atypical Workers (1) To launch targeted initiatives to organize different type of atypical workers To allocate sufficient union funds to organizing To develop organizing manuals and recruitment kits To amend legal frameworks defining the status of atypical workers Workers in special employment arrangement (disguised self- employed): Proving the existence of real employment relationships is crucial. Sub-contracted workers: To identify original contractors and subcontractors Temporary agency workers: To clarify responsibilities between agency employers and user employers

Proposed Activities for Organizing and Educating Atypical Workers (2) To organize training programs for organizers To establish a special organizational structure to deal with atypical workers (ex. FKTU Non- regular Workers’ Alliance) To disseminate best practices on organizing and share the experience _______________________________________________ Thank you very much