President urges swift action on non-regular workers bill

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak called on the National Assembly Thursday to act quickly on a government-proposed revision to the law on non-regular workers, saying failure to enact the bill has raised the specter of unemployment for the nation's contract workers.

Lee's call comes as ruling and opposition parties have been in a deadlock over
the revision that seeks to extend to four years the maximum period of time a
company can hire an employee on a non-regular basis.
Under the current law, enacted at the start of July 2007, companies can only
employ non-regular workers for a maximum of two years, upon which they must
either promote the workers' status to a regular and better-paying position or lay
them off.
Reports have suggested that many non-regular workers have already been fired as
the two-year limit expired at the beginning of this month while the government
and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) claim as many as 1 million workers
could lose their jobs in the near future.
There are an estimated 5.5 million non-regular workers in the country.
Lee noted the two-year extension of the law may not be a permanent solution, but
said it will give enough time for workers, companies and the parliament to work
out a more permanent solution.
"The National Assembly must adequately extend the period and then come up with a
fundamental solution during that time," the president said in a joint economic
committee meeting attended by some 60 government officials, lawmakers and
business representatives.
Lee also criticized the parliament for passing the non-regular workers law in the
first place two years ago, apparently suggesting the law allows, if not
encourages, mass lay-offs of workers.
"Because they enacted the law without addressing the fundamental problems when
they first legislated it, many non-regular workers are now facing difficulties
while only a few are benefiting from the law," he said.
The GNP had sought to unilaterally legislate the revision late last month, but
the attempt was blocked by the main opposition Democratic Party and minor
Democratic Labor Party, which claim the two-year extension will only cause an
increase in the number of non-regular workers, who in many cases only get paid
half of what regular workers do.
Lee noted both the ruling and opposition parties had their reasons, but said the
workers were running out of time.
"Because the workers will suffer all the damages if we try to (permanently) solve
the problem now, I believe it will be better to first buy enough time for
discussions and then ruling and opposition legislators try to solve the problem,"
the president said.
The president also urged businesses to help create jobs by investing more
aggressively.
"Now is the time to invest if we are to move ahead in the new world order that
will come after the global economic crisis is over and now is the time when it
will not be too late or too soon," Lee told the meeting, also attended by 23
representatives from business conglomerates.
"I believe such investments in the future are the responsibility and obligation
of businesses to society," he added.