“Government Eliminates Federation of Korean Trade Unions from Subsidy Project Worth 2.6 Billion Won: Impact on Vulnerable Workers and Regional Labor Counseling Centers”

2023-05-01 19:00:40

President Yoon Seok-yeol enters a cabinet meeting held at the Presidential Office Building in Yongsan, Seoul on March 21. yunhap news

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions was eliminated from a government subsidy project worth 2.6 billion won this year. The government has been shaking the money line in earnest to pressure the labor community on the pretext of not submitting union accounting data, and there are concerns that damage will return to the ‘labor weak’ who received help from the union. Summarizing the coverage on the 1st, in the official document from the Ministry of Employment and Labor sent to the headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions on the 28th, “Notice of screening results for labor group support projects in 2023,” “As a result of the screening by the selection screening committee for subsidy applications, the business was not selected as a target for support.” said. Every year, the government selects labor organizations and non-profit corporations and provides them with state subsidies in the name of promoting mutual growth and cooperation between labor and management. This year, in March, labor groups received 4.472 billion won and non-profit corporations 1.13 billion won for support projects. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions also received support in the amount of 2.6 billion won every year, but this year it was eliminated.

An official letter sent by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to the Korean Federation of Trade Unions on the 28th. Provided by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions

The reason why the government notified the headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions of the rejection of the support project was ‘unsubmitted accounting by the union’. In February, the government announced its policy that “organizations that do not comply with the obligations under the accounting-related laws will be excluded from selection (support projects).” The Federation of Korean Trade Unions refused to submit the data, saying, “The government’s request for accounting data is an anti-constitutional act that infringes on autonomy.” The problem is that stopping the selection of support projects might damage the protection of the rights of vulnerable workers in the region, not the headquarters of the General Federation. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions spent 1.477 billion won of the 2.6 billion won subsidy it received in return for the project last year to operate 19 regional labor education counseling centers (legal counseling and rescue projects). The rest of the subsidies were used for training union officials and policy research projects. Last year alone, 25,000 workers used local counseling centers run by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions across the country. With the suspension of government subsidies, regarding 30 counseling center employees are facing job insecurity. Lee Dong-chul, head of the counseling office at the Bucheon Education and Labor Counseling Center of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said, “The local counseling center is a place that workers in the most vulnerable sites visit with the feeling of holding on to a straw.” I will drop more,” he said. Lee Ji-hyeon, a spokesperson for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said, “For the time being, we plan to operate the counseling center with the general federation budget, but it is unknown how the business will proceed followingwards.” The Ministry of Labor announced that it would allocate 50% of this year’s support project budget to newly participating organizations instead of unions that did not comply with accounting laws, but their application rate was found to be remarkably low. It turned out that only institutions with a scale of 800 million won were notified of the selection out of the budget of 4.4 billion won related to the selection of this support project. An official from the Ministry of Labor said, “Organizations that did not comply with accounting-related obligations were not selected in this contest.” Reporter Jang Hyun-eun [e-mail]

1682973382
#Labor #Society #News #Hankyoreh