Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik is answering questions from reporters at a briefing on the opening of the labor union accounting disclosure system at the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 5th. yunhap news
The union accounting disclosure system, which does not provide union dues tax deduction benefits to union members who do not disclose accounting disclosures, has been put into full operation. The disclosure system requires the union to record everything from grants paid to higher-level organizations, business promotion expenses, and industrial action expenses. There are concerns that it could be abused as a tool to suppress unions by closely examining the money flows of the entire labor community. Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik held a press conference at the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 5th and announced, “The labor union accounting disclosure system within the labor portal has been opened since October 1.” On the 19th of last month, an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (Union Act), which provides tax deduction benefits for union dues only to unions that have made accounting announcements, passed the Cabinet meeting. Afterwards, the Ministry of Labor began building its own system for union accounting disclosure and released it on the 1st. There were a total of seven unions that had published their accounts in the union accounting disclosure system by 4 p.m. on this day. Five are company-specific unions without a superior organization. The remaining two are the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Public Transport Workers’ Union, Asiana Airlines Pilots’ Union, and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions’ National Federation of Public Trade Unions and the Gimpo City Construction Workers’ Union. If you are a member of two unions, you must disclose your accounting to the federation in order to receive a tax deduction for union fees. Anyone, including union members, can view accounting disclosures and major accounting items of individual unions through this system. Disclosure items are largely divided into the status of assets and liabilities (land, buildings, etc.), income (union dues, grants to upper-level organizations, levies to subordinate organizations, subsidies, etc.), and expenditures (labor costs, policy project expenses, etc.). The labor community believes that the disclosure of business expenses, negotiation and dispute project expenses, etc., has the potential to be misused to suppress labor unions. An official from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions told the Hankyoreh, “The data we disclose to union members is more specific (than public disclosure),” and “The problem is that the government can gradually increase the number of disclosure items to suit its tastes, and it can track union accounting flows and abuse it as a tool of oppression.” “There is room,” he said. He also said, “There are concerns that some items, such as business expenses in dispute, will be singled out and attacked with the frame of ‘promoting a strike.’” There is also criticism that the disclosure system is a ‘union association system’ in that it provides tax deduction benefits to individual union members only when accounting is disclosed not only by the union to which the member directly belongs but also by its superior organization. Among the 673 unions with 1,000 or more employees subject to disclosure, 303 are affiliated/affiliated unions of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and 249 are affiliated/affiliated unions of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The 552 unions may not be able to receive tax credits depending on whether the federation announces it or not. In fact, this is the part where suspicions arise that the two major federations, the Democratic Party of Korea and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, are being strangled. Professor Emeritus Lee Byeong-hoon of Chung-Ang University (sociology) told the Hankyoreh, “It is fully intended as a means of pressuring the union.” He added, “There is a high possibility that union members who do not receive tax deductions for their union dues will lead to their leaving the union, which could in turn serve as an opportunity to weaken the union’s power.” “He said. The two major unions opposed the disclosure of union accounting, but began preparing response plans to prevent union members from leaving the union. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a comment on this day, saying, “In response to the government’s mean-spirited union-bashing offensive, we have begun discussions to listen to the diverse and valuable opinions of individual union members and increase unity,” and added, “We have gathered the consensus of all union members and conducted a discussion in the most befitting of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.” “We will respond,” he said. Lee Ji-hyun, spokesperson for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, also said, “We will proceed with legal action, including a constitutional appeal. However, damage to union members will begin immediately from the end of this year, and legal action will take a long time. “We will review more carefully internally and decide whether to respond to this accounting disclosure,” he said. Reporter Kim Hae-jeong sea@hani.co.kr
2023-10-05 07:27:33
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