The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions holds a rally in downtown Seoul... Call for the abolition of the ‘Mega Special Zone Special Act’

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Eui-jin = The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a rally in downtown Seoul on the 5th and called for the abolition of the 'Mega Special Zone Special Act', which is being promoted to create a semiconductor cluster in the southwestern region.

On this afternoon, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a ‘Resolution Meeting to Declare Struggle in the Second Half of the Year’ in front of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul. Organizers estimated that 3,000 people participated in this rally.

Chairman Yang Kyung-soo said at the conference, "Companies are reaping enormous operating profits and additional tax revenues are expected to exceed 100 trillion won, but the government's policy is to guarantee corporate profits and reduce workers' rights."

He then criticized that the benefits from the Mega Special Zone Act are concentrated on companies, saying, “Why does the government weigh how much benefit it will give to companies, and why does labor always have to fight over how much it will set back?”

In addition, he called for improvement, saying that primary contract negotiations are not being implemented at labor sites.

Looking back on the past six months when the 'Yellow Envelope Act' (Articles 2 and 3 of the Revised Trade Union Act) was implemented, Lee Seung-woo, head of the planning department of the Construction Industry Federation's Plant Construction Union, evaluated it as "a bright apricot."

In a resolution, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions also ordered the strengthening of the public nature of the budget, saying, "The government set next year's budget at KRW 821 trillion, a 12.8% increase from this year, and increased the industrial support budget for the three major mega projects by 29.7%, while spending on health, welfare, and employment only increased by 9.3%."