Lee Says Social Safety Net Must Ensure 'Dismissal Does Not Mean Death'

President Lee Jae-myung met with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) on Saturday and stressed that "social safety nets must be expanded so that workers are not afraid of being dismissed." He also emphasized the importance of guaranteeing "the three basic labor rights," saying "the government will also work to restore the balance of power."

Lee made the remarks at a meeting with FKTU leaders invited to the Blue House. The gathering came just five days after the launch ceremony of the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC) on June 19.

At the meeting, Lee said that "the labor sector is inherently the weaker party" in labor-management relations. He added, "To overcome polarization, the biggest problem in Korean society, it is important to restore the balance of power," and said the three basic labor rights — the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, and the right to collective action — "must be properly guaranteed."

"I have been saying in many places that we need to raise the unionization rate of workers, but it seems it is not as easy as one might think," Lee said. "I hope the labor sector can restore the balance of power even a little through solidarity, and the government will also work to make that happen."

Lee reiterated, following his remarks at the ESLC launch ceremony, that an environment must be created in which workers can accept the "labor flexibility" demanded by the business community. "The business sector demands labor flexibility, while the labor sector says 'dismissal equals death' and finds it absolutely unacceptable, and these two positions are clashing sharply," he said. "So that dismissal is not something to be feared, various institutional improvements including the expansion of social safety nets must follow — to narrow the gaps between regular and non-regular workers, between men and women, between primary contractors and subcontractors, between the capital region and non-capital regions, and between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises."

FKTU said the country "must thoroughly guard against the mistakes of the past, when the socially vulnerable and workers were driven into becoming one-sided scapegoats during national crises." FKTU Chairman Kim Dong-myung said, "The repercussions of the war in the Middle East, 7,000 kilometers away, are hitting the Korean economy head-on without any buffer, and the labor field is also freezing rapidly." He added, "Industrial transitions including artificial intelligence and decarbonization policies are also spreading uncertainty and anxiety in the workplace."

Kim urged, "Whether through a supplementary budget or administrative power — even if it seems excessive — I ask that you actively look after the lives of workers and ordinary citizens exposed to this crisis."

In the open discussion that followed, participants proposed excluding public service workers from the total personnel cost cap at public institutions. They also asked the government to take a more active role in introducing a four-day workweek and extending the retirement age. Jeon Eun-su, deputy spokesperson of the Presidential Office, said proposals were also made for institutional improvements such as "establishing standards for the assignment of safety managers," related to the recent Anjeon Industrial fire accident in Daejeon.