Labor-Management Collective Bargaining
Overview
Collective bargaining (團體交涉, collective bargaining) refers to the procedure in which a labor union and an employer or employers' organization consult each other's positions and reach agreement on the maintenance and improvement of working conditions, the working environment, employment security, and worker welfare. The right to collective bargaining guaranteed by Article 33(1) of the Constitution is a fundamental right of workers connected to the right to live, and is a core means of supplementing individual workers' freedom of contract and realizing substantive equality. The outcome of bargaining is documented in a collective agreement, which functions as a kind of autonomous norm regulating labor relations.
Key Contents
Legal Basis and Nature of the Right
The right to collective bargaining is based on Article 33(1) of the Constitution, Articles 29 and 30 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (hereinafter the Trade Union Act), and International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 98. The employer bears a duty to respond to bargaining, namely the duty to bargain in good faith, and refusal to bargain without just cause is regulated as an unfair labor practice (refusal to bargain) under Article 81 subparagraph 3 of the Trade Union Act. However, the right to bargain is only a right to consult on working conditions and does not mean an obligation that an agreement must necessarily be reached.
Parties and Representatives in Bargaining
One party to bargaining is the labor union (or, in the case of multiple unions, the representative bargaining trade union after unification of bargaining channels), and the other party is the employer or employers' organization. Bargaining representatives include the chairperson or representative of the labor union and, for the employer, the representative such as the chairperson or president, or a person delegated by such representative. Because an agreement beyond the scope of delegation may have its effect denied, confirming the representativeness and delegated authority of bargaining representatives is important in practice.
Subjects of Bargaining (Bargaining Matters)
Subjects of bargaining cover the full range of working conditions, including wages, working hours, holidays and leave, discipline and dismissal, safety and health, employment security, and welfare benefits. They also include matters concerning the operation of the labor union, such as guarantees of union activity, conclusion and revision of collective agreements, and the function of worker representatives in the workplace. On the other hand, the position of case law is that matters belonging to management rights—such as profit distribution, placement of production facilities, and the fundamental exercise of personnel authority—are in principle not subjects of bargaining, but may become subjects of bargaining where they directly affect working conditions.
Bargaining Procedure and Duty to Bargain in Good Faith
Bargaining proceeds in the order of presentation of demands, request for and acceptance of bargaining, consultation on the timing, place, and method of bargaining, substantive consultation, and derivation and documentation of agreement. The employer must bargain in good faith at an appropriate time and place; acts such as designating a person with bargaining authority as a proxy, running meetings formally, or unreasonably refusing to submit materials may constitute violations of the duty to bargain in good faith. Conversely, the labor union side must not delay bargaining through demands without reasonable grounds or refusal to consult.
Conclusion and Effect of Collective Agreements
The result of bargaining is concluded as a written collective agreement and has normative effect within a certain scope under Article 31 of the Trade Union Act. Standards concerning working conditions and other treatment of workers set in a collective agreement invalidate parts of rules of employment or individual labor contracts that violate them, and the agreement's standards apply to the invalidated parts. In principle, the effect of an agreement extends to union members, but an agreement concluded by a labor union representing a majority of workers in the workplace is also extended to other workers (generally binding effect).
Relationship with Industrial Action
If bargaining breaks down, the labor union may proceed to industrial action (strike, slowdown, etc.) after following the procedures prescribed by law. In other words, collective bargaining is both the premise of and alternative to industrial action, and the two are complementary in that industrial action is a means of bringing about agreement through bargaining. However, in essential public-interest businesses, industrial action is restricted and mediation and arbitration procedures take precedence, and lockouts by employers are also permitted under certain requirements.
Relief Procedures
If an employer refuses to bargain without just cause, a labor union may file an application for relief from unfair labor practice with the Labor Relations Commission, and if it disagrees with the relief order, it may contest it through administrative litigation. In recent years, judicial relief such as claims for damages or applications for injunctions due to refusal to bargain has increasingly been pursued in parallel.
Recent Trends
The amendment to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act (the so-called Yellow Envelope Act (노란봉투법)), passed by the National Assembly in August 2024 and enforced on March 10, 2025, greatly changed the landscape of bargaining. The amended Act expanded the concept of employer so that a person exercising substantial and concrete control over working conditions is regarded as an employer, and provided a basis for regulating a prime contractor's refusal to bargain with a subcontractor labor union as an unfair labor practice. Accordingly, bargaining demands between prime contractors and subcontractors are increasing in workplaces with multi-tier subcontracting structures, such as construction, shipbuilding, and automobiles, and disputes continue over the criteria for determining substantial control.
In 2025, discussions on institutionalizing industry-level and supra-enterprise-level bargaining and public-sector bargaining advanced, and the issue of guaranteeing bargaining rights for platform workers and workers in special types of employment emerged as a major issue. In addition, along with wage increase rates, employment security, safety and health, and job transition clauses following the introduction of AI and automation are newly emerging as bargaining agenda items, and efforts are being made in parallel to establish mediation and arbitration procedures and autonomous bargaining practices in preparation for prolonged bargaining disputes.
Related Topics
- [[단체협약]]
- [[노동조합]]
- [[부당노동행위]]
- [[쟁의행위]]
- [[근로기준법]]
- [[노란봉투법]]