SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The labor ministry said Tuesday some small business owners responded to steep hikes in the minimum wage by firing workers, in its first official statement about the impact of the recent wage raises on employment. Between November 2018 and April, the government conducted an in-depth interview survey on four [...]
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Only one out of three businesses have created an environment where employees are free to apply for parental leave to take care of their children. According to a survey released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Thursday, only 34.3 percent of workers responded that they were “free [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Eight out of 10 employees who work at large supermarkets or super supermarkets (SSMs) want to rest on holidays such as Lunar New Year’s Day and Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving. Rep. Bak Maeng-woo of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party reported on Wednesday that he and the [...]
JEJU, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Workers at Emart in Jeju are protesting against Emart Inc.’s expanded operation of its unmanned self-checkout system. The Emart branch of the Korean Mart Labor Union and Jeju’s Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a press conference in front of the Jeju branch of Emart on Tuesday and [...]
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Tens of thousands of South Korean workers marked Labor Day with a rally in central Seoul on Wednesday, urging the government to adopt major international regulations on promoting labor rights. Commemorating International Workers’ Day simultaneously, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KTCU), an umbrella labor union, said it’s urgent [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Employees at department stores and duty-free shops took to the streets claiming their right to use the restrooms at their workplaces normally reserved for customers. The Korean Federation of Service Workers’ Unions held a press conference at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) on Monday, claiming that [...]
TAEBAEK, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — In the wake of the death of a miner at the Jangseong Mining Station owned by Korea Coal Corp. last month, coal miners who had demanded safety measures warned of a sit-in in a mine shaft thousands of meters underground. In a letter to the citizens of South Korea, [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Employees with fewer than 15 hours of work hours per week increased in number last year, while they shrank in size in the wholesale/retail and food/lodging industries. The results overturn prior expectations that the higher minimum wage has forced employers in the wholesale/retail and food/lodging industries to hire workers [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The staff at film festivals are exposed to poor working conditions, working an average of 13.4 hours a day and up to 90 hours a week, according to a survey. The results were based on information provided by 40 staff members of the film industry from last September to [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The percentage of workers’ ailments being recognized as occupational diseases under the industrial disaster law has sharply increased under the government of President Moon Jae-in, officials said Monday. According to the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (KWCWS) affiliated with the labor ministry, 63 percent of ailments reported by [...]