Yellow Envelope Law One Month In, Subcontractor Bargaining Requests Exceed 1,000… Ministry of Employment and Labor "Gradual Stabilization"

1,011 Bargaining Demands from Subcontractor Unions to 372 Prime Contractors… Rate of Increase Gradually Decreasing

Labor Relations Commission and Judgment Support Repeatedly Affirm "Employer Status"… First "Opening Meeting" Held at Handong University

Service Union Urging Prime Contractor Bargaining for Indirectly Employed Workers (Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Dae-yeon = On the 4th, ahead of the full implementation of Articles 2 and 3 of the revised Trade Union Act, members of the Federation of Korean Service Workers' Unions (Service Union) held a press conference in front of the Seoul Employment and Labor Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, demanding prime contractor bargaining for indirectly employed workers and chanting slogans.

They demanded that prime contractors directly engage in bargaining with indirectly employed workers in sectors such as agricultural cooperatives' subsidiaries, delivery, public institution call centers, large mart sales and delivery, and home appliance rental industries. 2026.3.4 dwise@yna.co.kr

One month after the enforcement of the "Yellow Envelope Law" (Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act) on March 10th, the number of bargaining requests from subcontractor unions to prime contractor workplaces has exceeded 1,000.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor assessed that the revised Trade Union Act is entering a phase of gradual stabilization, as indicated by the decreasing rate of increase in bargaining requests compared to the initial period.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 10th that from March 10th to April 9th, a total of 1,011 subcontractor unions, branches, and chapters (representing 146,000 members) submitted bargaining requests to 372 prime contractor workplaces (institutions).

By sector, 616 subcontractor unions, branches, and chapters (60.9%) submitted bargaining requests to 216 prime contractors (58.1%) in the private sector.

In the public sector, 395 subcontractor unions submitted bargaining requests to 156 prime contractors.

By union confederation (based on prime contractors, with overlap), 356 workplaces were affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), 344 with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and 52 were unaffiliated.

A Ministry of Employment and Labor official stated, "With a total membership of approximately 2.77 million, 140,000 people represent about 5%," and analyzed, "Looking at the first month since the law's enforcement on a daily basis, the increasing trend (of bargaining requests) has moderated over time."

In fact, the number of prime contractor workplaces increased by approximately 35.3% in the early period (March 10-19), by about 21.4% in the mid-period (March 19-31), and by only about 2.5% in the latter period (March 31-April 9).

The increase in subcontractor unions also showed a gradual decrease at 72.5%, 33.8%, and 7.7% respectively.

 Trend of Bargaining Requests Over One Month [Provided by Ministry of Employment and Labor. Reproduction and database prohibited]

A total of 33 prime contractor workplaces have entered into bargaining procedures by publicly announcing the receipt of bargaining requests from subcontractor unions.

Of these, 19 have completed the announcement of confirmed bargaining parties and requested unions.

Among these, actual prime and subcontractor negotiations have begun, with Handong University holding an opening meeting with its subcontractor union yesterday.

Following the enforcement of the revised Trade Union Act, a significant number of negotiations are being conducted through Labor Relations Commission procedures.

As this is the early stage of the law's enforcement, there are insufficient accumulated judgment cases regarding employer status, leading employers to generally seek confirmation of their employer status through the Labor Relations Commission's judgment procedures.

Currently, there are a total of 54 ongoing cases of "correction requests for failure to publicly announce bargaining requests" filed with the Labor Relations Commission, excluding 6 decisions that affirmed employer status.

In fact, out of the 6 prime contractors whose employer status was confirmed by the Labor Relations Commission, 5 have proceeded with bargaining procedures by announcing the receipt of bargaining requests as of yesterday.

Decisions on requests for bargaining unit separation by the Labor Relations Commission also began on April 8th. Out of these, 12 are currently pending, with 13 approved and 6 rejected.

The enforcement decree of the revised Trade Union Act stipulates that when separating bargaining units in prime and subcontractor negotiations, priority should be given to the commonality of interests between unions, the appropriateness of representation, and the possibility of conflict and distortion of labor-management relations.

Accordingly, each regional Labor Relations Commission has separated bargaining units based on individual applications, such as ▲ by job function (e.g., banks-call center functions, Korea Electric Power Corporation-distribution business) or ▲ by union confederation (e.g., Incheon International Airport Corporation, Donghee Auto).

In some cases, bargaining unit separation was rejected (SK Energy, S-Oil, KORAMCO, Coupang CLS) with the reasoning that "it is difficult to see differences in working conditions and employment status with members of other unions."

Meanwhile, out of the total 287 cases received by the Labor Relations Commission, 196 have been withdrawn. Among these, 110 out of 170 correction requests for failure to publicly announce bargaining requests were withdrawn, and 86 out of 117 bargaining unit separation requests were withdrawn.

In response, the labor community states that they are sequentially filing only cases for which legal review has been conducted to ensure proper recognition of employer status.

[Table] Workplaces (Institutions) that Have Publicly Announced Bargaining Requests

A total of 94 inquiries have been received by the Collective Bargaining Judgment Support Committee operated by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, with 49 currently being processed.

On the 8th, the Judgment Support Committee determined that the National Tax Service is indeed the employer for call center workers.

For workers belonging to a subsidiary of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, the committee ruled against employer status. This is one of only two such negative judgments to date.

The government plans to continue its support by closely examining field inquiries and difficulties during the initial phase of the law's enforcement and enhancing field predictability, to ensure that bargaining procedures between prime and subcontractor labor and management proceed in an orderly manner within the framework of laws and systems.

A Ministry of Employment and Labor official explained, "As employer status judgments are being made, some adjustment procedures are progressing normally, and yesterday, bargaining procedures began with an opening meeting at Handong University." He added, "Once negotiations begin in major industries and collective agreement cases emerge, the revised Trade Union Act can be considered to have entered a state of stabilization."

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon emphasized, "The revised Trade Union Act is a so-called 'dialogue promotion law' aimed at institutionalizing dialogue between prime and subcontractors." He stated, "Legal procedures such as bargaining requests and bargaining unit separation are part of the process of establishing a framework for labor-management dialogue, and through a stable dialogue framework, it can contribute to prime and subcontractor coexistence and the resolution of labor market disparities."

Minister Kim added, "The government will continue to exert all its efforts to support the stable realization of the law's intent."