President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a town hall meeting on protecting vulnerable workers at a jobs and welfare center in Seoul on May 14, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) — President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday proposed a law that will protect the rights of nonunion workers and enhance their welfare.
Yoon made the proposal during a town hall meeting, the 25th of its kind, which was held to discuss issues concerning nonunion and other vulnerable workers.
“We must establish an institutional basis to protect vulnerable workers at a more fundamental level,” he said during the meeting at a jobs center in Seoul, which brought together some 70 workers from diverse sectors, including designated drivers, delivery people, and flooring and scaffolding workers.
“The government will draw up a law supporting and protecting vulnerable workers so that the state can more actively take responsibility for and protect vulnerable workers,” he said.
Under the bill, the government will help establish mutual aid associations through which nonunion workers will be able to receive financial aid in the event of a disease, injury or unemployment, and launch a dispute arbitration panel tasked with supporting the workers, among other things.
Yoon said the government will also help delivery workers get insurance against traffic accidents by lowering the cost through mutual aid associations and more part-time insurance plans, while taking tougher steps against employers who habitually delay wage payments.
He added the labor ministry is set to open a new bureau dedicated to supporting nonunion workers on June 10.
Labor is one of three major reform areas pursued by the Yoon administration, along with education and pensions.
Yoon said no labor reform will be complete without addressing the needs of vulnerable workers.
(Yonhap)
