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| ▲ Members of the parliamentary subcommittee on environment and labor hold a meeting at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Feb. 15, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
opposition parties-labor bill
Opposition parties railroad pro-labor bill through parliamentary subcommittee
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- A contentious pro-labor bill passed through a parliamentary subcommittee Wednesday, calling for restricting damages suits aimed at suppressing industrial action and guaranteeing the bargaining rights of outsourced workers.
The main opposition Democratic Party and the minor opposition Justice Party passed the revision to the Trade Union And Labor Relations Adjustment Act through the bill review subcommittee of the labor and environment committee amid protest from the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
The two opposition parties hold a majority in the subcommittee.
The revision is better known as a "yellow envelope bill" after a person donated 47,000 won (US$36) in cash in a yellow envelope to unionized SsangYong Motor Co. workers following a 2013 court ruling that ordered them to pay 4.7 billion won for causing losses in a strike.
The ruling party has opposed the bill, saying it gives excessive immunity to unionized workers and could potentially hurt smaller businesses.
"The bill can be unconstitutional in many ways," PPP floor leader Joo Ho-young told reporters earlier Wednesday, saying it is not right to "give immunity to illegal strikes."
The bill is expected to pass through the parliamentary labor committee, as the two opposition parties plan to approve it in a plenary National Assembly session set for Feb. 24.
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