A National Assembly of the unions, by the unions, for the unions

[Sung-no Choi’s Market Economy]

The National Assembly is acting as a servant of interest groups. It passed a strike-promoting law that stirred controversy under the name of the “Yellow Envelope Act.” It is disappointing that the National Assembly has taken the lead in strengthening unions’ strike privileges. Working to protect union privileges has strayed from the National Assembly’s proper role. Because of the National Assembly’s misguided legislation, freedom in our society has retreated and order has regressed.

Strengthening union privileges will devastate the lives of the vast majority of workers while reinforcing a dual structure in which only a small privileged labor class enjoys power. If union high-handedness expands further, the rigid structure of our society will deepen. The trend toward relative impoverishment, in which most workplaces cannot find room for income growth and vitality, is likely to accelerate.

Granting privileges to labor movement forces at the core of political power undermines the legal system. It has revealed an intent to monopolize political power. Helping unions become politicized and wield control over political power is a legislative act that turns its back on the people. It violates the rule of law. It is disappointing that the National Assembly has pushed our society backward in terms of the rule of law. The National Assembly, which should legislate to protect and expand freedom, has instead shown a regressive tendency that constricts freedom.

Strengthening privileges and thereby encouraging union tyranny brings the side effect of undermining social order. Once privilege creates cracks in the social order, society as a whole can head down a path of decay. It will result in sacrificing the people for the sake of a privileged few. This means pushing our society backward into a privileged society, a class-based society.

As union privileges grow stronger, the vitality of the economic order is bound to disappear. The economic order is the process by which everyone works and earns income. If authority over property rights, management rights, hiring, and dismissal is handed over to a small union class that monopolizes power, the economic ecosystem loses its vitality. Most countries that tried to create a workers’ paradise ended up turning society into hell. The reason such underdeveloped countries have failed to become advanced nations is that they maintain systems in which unions and labor parties play the dominant role. Such institutionalized, class-based privilege blocks job creation and stifles economic growth.

The National Assembly must repeal this pro-union privilege law. Members of the National Assembly are elected by the people. They should work for the people, not to strengthen union privileges. The 21st National Assembly should reflect on the fact that, from beginning to end, it was “an Assembly of the unions, by the unions, and for the unions.” Rather than strengthening union privileges, it should make the market order more flexible and help create good jobs through legislation that expands individual freedom. Protecting freedom is the role of the law, and protecting freedom is the core of the rule of law.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 노조의, 노조에 의한, 노조를 위한 국회

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2023-11-20

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=26142