On October 10, a revised labor law known as the Yellow Envelope Act will come into effect, imposing obligations on primary contractors to negotiate with subcontractor unions. Last month, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Central Labor Relations Commission released a final version of the negotiation procedure manual for primary and subcontractor negotiations. Controversially, the manual does not include the requirement for negotiation window integration with primary contractor unions when subcontractor unions engage in negotiations with primary contractors. Instead, it maintains that subcontractor unions should negotiate solely among themselves.

Previously, the Ministry had stated that when subcontract unions negotiate with primary contractors, the negotiation windows should include primary contractor unions as part of the collective bargaining unit. However, the Ministry revised its stance, suggesting that the businesses operated by primary contractors using their own workers and those operated through subcontract workers are fundamentally different. This change implies that subcontractor unions can negotiate directly with primary contractors without the need for negotiation window integration with primary contractor unions, simplifying the process for subcontract unions despite their smaller size compared to primary contractor unions.

Nonetheless, the Ministry still regards negotiation window integration among subcontractor unions as necessary, citing shared interests when different subcontractors deal with a common primary contractor. Consequently, if one subcontract union requests collective bargaining from a primary contractor, the contractor must notify all subcontractor workers involved, ensuring that the collective bargaining process engages a wider network of workers, albeit still segregating the primary contractor’s union from the mix.