{"id":2203600,"date":"2024-01-24T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2203600"},"modified":"2024-01-23T17:07:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T08:07:34","slug":"south-korea-sees-decline-in-union-membership-amid-confrontation-with-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/01\/south-korea-sees-decline-in-union-membership-amid-confrontation-with-government\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea sees decline in union membership amid confrontation with government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korea observed its first reduction in labor union membership and unionization rate in over a decade, according to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moel.go.kr\/news\/enews\/report\/enewsView.do?news_seq=16108\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The total unionized workforce dwindled by 210,000 to 2.72 million in 2022, marking the end of an 11-year growth streak. Concurrently, the unionization rate declined by 1.1 percentage points to 13.1%, its first decrease in seven years, despite the establishment of 431 new unions and an addition of 72,000 members.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) \u2014 two of the country\u2019s largest umbrella labor unions \u2014 had 1.12 million and 1.1 million members, respectively. The data indicates a sector-wide shift, particularly evident in the reduction of union members in the construction sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Why It Matters<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The labor ministry explained that the number of unionized workers partially declined as the report excluded labor unions that did not submit regular status reports. The ministry also stated that long-inactive labor unions were dissolved following the decision of the labor committee in accordance with Article 28(1) of the Labor Union Act. Moreover, unions associated with defunct businesses or those without members were removed from the list of labor unions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data also reveals a significant drop in union presence at large corporations. Specifically, the unionization rate at companies with over 300 employees fell by 9.4 percentage points to 36.9%, marking a steeper decline than in smaller firms. Notably, the expulsion of the unions in the construction industry from the FKTU in July 2022, primarily over misappropriation of dues, likely led to its membership decline, impacting the broader union statistics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The decline in South Korea\u2019s labor union membership also coincides with escalating tensions between the government and labor groups. Yoon\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.yna.co.kr\/view\/AEN20231201001653315\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">veto<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the \u201cyellow envelope bill\u201d in December \u2014 a bill that was aimed at curbing businesses\u2019 ability to claim damages against workers engaged in labor strikes \u2014 was the latest in a series of standoffs between the presidential office and labor unions.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-tags\"><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/business-economy\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Business &amp; Economy<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/culture-society\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Culture &amp; Society<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/tag\/domestic-politics\/\"><span class=\"tag\">Domestic Politics<\/span><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea observed its first reduction in labor union membership and unionization rate in over a decade, according to a report by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The total unionized workforce dwindled by 210,000 to 2.72 million in 2022, marking the end of an 11-year growth streak. Concurrently, the unionization rate declined by 1.1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10407,"featured_media":2203601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24,25,27],"class_list":["post-2203600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-briefings","tag-business-economy","tag-culture-society","tag-domestic-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>South Korea sees decline in union membership amid confrontation with government - KOREA PRO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2024\/01\/south-korea-sees-decline-in-union-membership-amid-confrontation-with-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea sees decline in union membership amid confrontation with government - KOREA PRO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korea observed its first reduction in labor union membership and unionization rate in over a decade, according to a report by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. 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