Democratic Party's caucus rejects ruling party's proposal including establishment of Industrial Safety and Health Support Agency
People Power Party says "Decision influenced by major labor unions... Ignoring voices from the field"
Low possibility of renegotiation as final negotiation proposal is rejected
The Democratic Party of Korea officially rejected the ruling party and government's negotiation proposal on the 1st to postpone the application of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (Serious Accidents Punishment Act) for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees for two years, and to establish the Industrial Safety and Health Support Agency two years later. The Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which has already been in effect since the 27th of last month, will continue to be applied without any postponement.
Hong Ik-pyo, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at a meeting with reporters after the party's caucus on the same day, "The Democratic Party has decided to adhere to the fundamental value that workers' lives and safety take precedence in industrial sites," and "We have decided to reject the government and ruling party's revised proposal."
The ruling and opposition parties had previously negotiated in response to industry demands to delay the application timing of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for workplaces with 5 to 50 employees. Until now, the Democratic Party had expressed the position that if the Industrial Safety and Health Agency is newly established, the application of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act could be postponed for two years. Regarding this, Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, proposed to Hong Ik-pyo a negotiation plan to delay the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act by two years on the condition of establishing the Industrial Safety and Health Support Agency (Sanancheong), which excludes investigative duties from the Industrial Safety and Health Agency and focuses on preventive tasks, two years later.
Although the ruling party presented a concession plan prepared by persuading the government and others who opposed the establishment of Sanancheong, the possibility of further renegotiations seems to have practically disappeared as the opposition party rejected the revised proposal.
Yoon Young-duk, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, said, "Judging from the atmosphere of the caucus, since the law was enforced on the 27th of last month, it was emphasized that sufficient conditions should be created to prevent accidents from occurring in the government or industry in respect of the purpose of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act," and added, "Regarding the difficult conditions of small and micro enterprises, rather than postponing now, the government should establish sufficient support measures." Since the law has already been enforced, support measures should be prepared rather than postponing the law.
Yoon Young-duk also conveyed that a considerable number of lawmakers were negative about the ruling party's proposal at the caucus and thus did not accept it. Regarding the atmosphere of the caucus, he introduced, "Due to the strong public opinion against postponement, the floor leader made the decision."
The ruling party strongly opposed the Democratic Party's rejection.
Yoon Jae-ok, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said regarding the Democratic Party's rejection of the revised proposal, "The people will surely judge the Democratic Party's heartlessness and insensitivity that ignored the tears of 8 million workers and 830,000 small and micro enterprises and self-employed business owners." He added, "This negotiation proposal was presented with a progressive attitude to accept the final conditions of the negotiation as the Democratic Party told our party that this was the final condition," and said, "Since there are absolutely no other negotiation conditions, the Democratic Party can only be seen as turning a deaf ear to the voices from the field of people's livelihood."
Regarding the negotiation proposal, Yoon said, "Since Hong Ik-pyo agreed, wouldn't he have submitted it to the caucus?" and said, "(The Democratic Party) ignored the field of people's livelihood by paying attention to the two major labor unions ahead of the election."
He also viewed the possibility of additional negotiations as low. When asked by reporters about the possibility of further meetings, Yoon said, "There is no atmosphere to meet now," and added, "The Democratic Party is not at all prepared for additional negotiations and has not presented any negotiation proposals."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
