The Future of Workers’ Rights Advocacy:

 

The Inaugural Conference of the Institute of Workers’ Rights

 

April 30th, 2021

 

Online and Seoul, Korea

 

 

 

 

1.     The Background and Objectives

 

 

 

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is the most representative confederation of trade unions in South Korea, which has 16 industry-wide affiliates unions and represents one million union members. The Legal Centre of the KCTU was established in 2002 to legally represent trade unions and workers and to fight for workers’ rights in the field of labour law and human rights. The Legal Centre has carried out over 1,000 lawsuit annually, and has annually defended hundreds of cases of union members who participate in collective action or are penalized by reason of union activity. The Legal Centre is currently composed of over 100 lawyers, Certified Labour Attorneys and staffs. The Legal Centre of the KCTU is the largest law firm dedicated to the trade union movement in Asia.

 

 

 

The Legal Centre of the KCTU launches its research institute - Institute of Workers’ Rights –on May Day 2021. The core mission of the Institute of Workers’ Rights is to develop labour law theories and legal policies to best advocate the rights of workers and their organizations. Effective legal advocacy for workers increasingly require the collaboration of lawyers, scholars and union activists nationally and internationally. This inaugural conference of the Institute of Workers’ Rights seeks to the process of developing legal strategies to ensure fundamental rights at work for all workers.

 

 

 

 

 

2.     The Themes of Conference

 

 

 

 

As the organization of work as well as the business model changes, new ways must be found to afford adequate protection to all workers, whether they are employees, dependent contractors or engaged in platform work. While the employment relationship could remain the centerpiece of labour protection in many countries, there is increasing needs to ensure adequate protection for all workers, regardless of their contractual arrangement or employment status. As such, the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of work calls all workers should enjoy adequate protection including respect for fundamental rights at work, an adequate minimum wage, maximum limits on working time and safety and health at work. Many jurisdiction including Korea, nevertheless, deny right to organize and to collectively bargain of workers who have other contractual arrangements than the employment contract. In Korea, for example, unions that organize self-employed workers such as owner-truckers have faced a risk of deregistration of trade union by authorities. In addition, Korean Government currently pushes ahead legislation to provide workers engaging in platform work for inferior protection to that of employees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 3.     Structure of Conference

 

 

The objective of the conference is to bring together distinguished scholars and labour lawyers who actively engage in labour movement to discuss legal and policy frameworks for effective advocacy for “all” workers.

 

 

 

Our internationally prominent panellists are as below:

 

 

・   Dr. Yun, Aelim (Panel Facilitator, Institute of Workers’ Rights)

 

・   Vogt, Jeffrey (International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network)

 

・   Professor de Stefano, Valerio (Institute for Labour Law, KU Leuven)

 

・   Professor Countouris, Nicola (Director of the Research department, European Trade Union Institute)

 

 

(in alphabetical order)

 

 

 

 

 

Suggested focus of the panel discussion is as follows:

 

 

・   The right of organize, the right to bargain collectively and the right to strike, for all workers regardless of their employment status, should have precedence over any other legal regulation, especially competition rules (and criminal law too in Korea). To this end, responsibilities of economic employers including principal companies or digital labour platform should be established vis-à-vis trade unions. How could we hold those economic employers accountable for fundamental rights at work? How can labour regulation contribute to strengthening workers’ voice and building industrial relations in the changing world of work?

 

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・   What legal strategy should be developed to ensure fundamental rights at work for all workers including platform workers? For example, the ETUC adopted Action Programme 2019-2023 that shall advocate for fundamental labour rights for all workers regardless of their status. How could we elaborate that kind of advocacy strategy?

 

・   Could the legal presumption that an employment relationship exists where relevant indicators are present be an effective way to ensure rights for all workers? For example, what can we learn from the battle for AB5 and Proposition22 in the United States?

 

・   How far is the effort to adjust the boundaries of an employment relationship reaching to ensure effective protection for workers? What implication and limits are found in recent court rulings over the employment of status of platform workers?