A drafted whole amendment bill of the Occupational Safety and Health Act submitted by the government to the National Assembly was grounded to a halt. The government drafted amendment bill includes the measures to reduce the industrial accidents such as the ban on the outsourcing of dangerous tasks.
The opposition parties of the Liberty Korea Party and the Bareunmirae Party take up the position on the amendment bill only to reflect the contents which had been agreed by the ruling and opposition parties. Criticism was raised against the stand of the conservative opposition parties still trapped in the mentality that the preventative measures against the industrial accidents are costs, despite a recent tragic accident of the late Kim Yong-gyun at the Taean Thermal Power Plant.
The Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly will convene a meeting of the Employment and Labor Subcommittee(Bill Deliberation Subcommittee) on December 24 to examine 58 legislative bills including the whole amendment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act which they had failed to reach an agreement in the meeting on December 21.
While the ruling Democratic Party takes up the position to agree with the whole amendment bill of the Occupational Safety and Health Act submitted by the government last month, the conservative opposition parties argue to examine part of contentious items in the bill for an agreement.
The ruling Democratic Party sees this extraordinary session of the National Assembly in December as an opportunity for a drastic reform of the industrial accident prevention system. It is the reflection of their recognition that in recent the public awareness towards the matters of industrial safety including the ban on the outsourcing of dangerous tasks has been raised significantly due to the tragic accident of the late Kim Yong-gyun.
Of the matters related the outsourcing introduced in the whole amendment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act submitted by the government, there are the ban on the outsourcing of hazardous jobs, the strengthened punishment for the primary contractors in case of infringing the obligatory measures for the safety and health of subcontract workers, and the expansion of the scope of responsibility for the safety and health of subcontract workers. The amendment bill expands the legal protection target to 'all persons at work', not limiting the legal protection to the workers defined in the Labor Standards Act, guarantees the workers the right to stop (unsafe) work, and toughens the punishment for the employers in case of fatal accidents. It also includes a prior approval of the Employment and Labor Minister when part of material safety data sheets(MSDS) need to be kept in business confidential information. It is highly regarded that the bill advances to a level which can change the paradigm of the industrial accident prevention, and the ruling party and the labor circle seem to have no hesitation in supporting the bill.
In the meanwhile , the opposition parties argue that "the whole amendment bill has lots of ambiguous regulations and sloppy wordings in the articles." They point out that the article concerning 'persons at work' in the Occupational Safety and Health Act is ambiguous.
Rep. Lim Lee-ja, executive secretary of the Environment and Labor Committee of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said that "the ruling party and the press are talking about bad things about (our party) being evil, as (we) oppose the whole amendment (of the Occupational Safety and Health Act)." "We can discuss the bills including the amendment bill proposed by Rep. Sim Sang-jeoung of the Justice Party, which covers the system of aggravated punishments and punitive damages in case of fatal accidents."
Voices are growing that the outsourcing of dangerous tasks should be stopped, due to the tragedy of the late Kim Yong-gyun. Some even say that it will not be a small achievement, if the National Assembly passes an amendment to resolve the problem and toughen punishments for the primary contractors and users of the subcontract workers.
However, the problem lies in the cognitive attitude of conservative party members that they see the issue of industrial accident prevention as the cost factor. Rep. Lee Jang-woo of the opposition Liberty Korea Party said in the Employment and Labor Subcommittee on December 21 that "the government drafted amendment bill did not look into its effect on the national competitiveness." He argued that "the whole nation stands on the edge of collapse, due to the complete disarray of labor market caused by the drastic hike of minimum wages and the enforcement of 52-hour workweek."
reported by Kim Hak-tae
translated by Kim Sung-jin