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On 10 March 2026, South Korea’s revised Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act — dubbed the ‘Yellow Envelope Law’ — came into force. The reform ties employer status to actual control over working conditions and extends union rights to subcontractors and gig workers in certain cases. Yet its promise is weakened by case-by-case enforcement, narrow labour protections and employer-friendly procedures.
The amendment followed more than two decades of legal battles. It emerged from labour struggles in the early 2000s, as workers confronted a wave of corporate restructuring after South Korea’s 1997 bailout by the IMF. In 2003, industrial conglomerate Doosan claimed hefty compensation from workers striking against layoffs, leading one worker to commit suicide by self-immolation. Similar cases multiplied as companies refused collective bargaining and framed strikes as unlawful.
In 2014, after SsangYong Motor brought an excessive damages claim against workers over industrial action, supporters began sending cash donations in yellow envelopes, giving rise to the ‘Yellow Envelope’ campaign. The campaign pursued a broader solution to the increasing inequalities between standard and non-standard workers. Addressing this gap was a key objective of the amendment, which was passed in August 2025 in line with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s pledge to strengthen labour rights.
But the law’s impact is diluted in practice. Rather than granting blanket...
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