LH labor and management end second round of talks empty-handed; split and pay remain deadlocked

[The Financial News] Labor-management negotiations at Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) over the organizational split and pay issues ended without a conclusion at their second meeting.
According to the LH labor union and other sources, labor and management representatives began their second round of talks at 2 p.m. on the 14th at LH headquarters in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, but ended the meeting without finding common ground. The first round, held on the 30th of last month, ended without progress after 1 hour and 20 minutes. The sides met again two weeks later, but the result was unchanged. Nine management representatives, including President Lee, and nine labor representatives attended the first round.
The main issues discussed that day were reportedly wages and how to protect employees’ jobs as the organization is split in two. The parties have not disclosed which items management was willing to accept and which it rejected. LH President Lee Seong-hun reportedly conveyed that he could accept only some of the 17 demands put forward by the union. The two sides agreed to continue negotiations in a third round but did not set a date.
At a National Assembly audit by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 12th, two days earlier, President Lee had said that improving employee compensation, including pay, was necessary to boost morale. At the same hearing, in response to concerns about staffing shortages, he said that recruitment notices for fixed-term and temporary workers had already been posted and that he was consulting government ministries about bringing in additional staff.
The union has maintained that employees’ working conditions have worsened because staffing has declined even as the scale and role of LH’s work have grown. On organizational restructuring, it has described the government’s plan to split LH into two entities—the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (tentative name) and the Housing and Urban Asset Corporation (tentative name)—as a “unilateral push,” and called for a labor-government consultative body that would incorporate employees’ views.
The government formalized its plan to split LH on the 3rd of last month, announcing its “Plan for Functional Reform of Public Institutions.” Under the proposed structure, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation would handle land development and home construction, while the Housing and Urban Asset Corporation would be responsible for housing welfare and asset reserves. The plan is to link the two entities by placing some development profits in a separate account within the Housing and Urban Fund and contributing the money to the asset corporation. However, details such as the allocation of staff, assets and liabilities have yet to be fleshed out; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is set to provide them in a separate “LH Reform Plan.” The move would be an attempt to split LH again 17 years after it was launched in 2009 through the merger of the Korea National Housing Corporation and the Korea Land Corporation. A split was also pursued under the Moon Jae-in administration in 2021 but was abandoned amid concerns, including possible disruptions to housing supply.
The union has opposed the plan, saying that if the split becomes a reality, work between development and asset management would be disconnected, administrative costs would rise, and housing supply would be disrupted. It also collected signatures opposing the plan from 14,334 executives, employees and family members. The union says around 8,000 members could launch an all-out strike if its demands are not met; if a strike takes place, it would be the first since LH was established.


[email protected] Jeong Gyeong-su Reporter