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Act for Settlement of Labor-Management Disputes (here-in-after referred to as the Act) is enacted to settle labor-management disputes, protect labor rights and interests, and stabilize employment relations.

The parties to dispute shall resolve the dispute in good faith and by the principle of self-governance.

The Act applies when a labor-management dispute arises between employer(s) or an employer organization with juristic person status (here-in-after referred to as the employer organization) and worker(s) or a labor union. However, the Act is not applicable to a teacher’s labor-management dispute involving matters which shall be resolved through administrative remedies in accordance with other statutes.

The term “competent authority” referred to in the Act shall be the Ministry of Labor at the central level, the municipal government at the municipal level, and the county (city) government at the county (city) level.

The terms used in the Act are defined as follows:
1. Labor-management disputes denote to the rights disputes and the interests disputes.
2. Rights disputes denote to the disputes over the rights and obligations under the laws, regulations, collective agreements, or labor contracts between employers and workers.
3. Interests disputes denote to the disputes between employers and workers with respect to maintaining or changing the terms and conditions of employment.
4. Dispute activities denote to strikes or any activities impeding business operations by labor unions to disputes and activities conducted by employers concerned in order to accomplish their objectives respectively.
5. Strike denotes to the activity that workers refuse temporarily to provide their services.

Rights disputes may be settled by the procedures of mediation, arbitration or decision on unfair labor practices in accordance with the Act.
The court, if necessary, shall set up a labor court for adjudicating rights disputes.
The central competent authority may provide proper support if the employee in the labor dispute falls under any of the following situations:
1. Files a suit;
2. Files for arbitration in accordance with the arbitration law;
3. Applies for a decision in accordance with the Act for any of the causes specified in Subparagraphs 1 to 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 35 of the Labor Union Act.
The central competent authority may authorize a civic organization to provide the support indicated in the preceding paragraph.
Application qualification, scope of support, review method and authorization for any given support indicated in the previous two paragraphs shall be determined by the central competent authority.

Interests disputes shall be settled by the procedures of mediation or arbitration in accordance with the Act.
The party from the labor side to the labor-management dispute referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be a labor union. However, in the following situations, the claimants may be the party from the labor side:
1. Ten or more workers not joining in a labor union but having the same claim.
2. Two-thirds or more employees hired by a business entity of less than ten employees not joining in a labor union but having the same claim.

During the procedures of mediation, arbitration or decision on unfair labor practices, an employer may not suspend or shut down the business, terminate the labor contract, or undertake any other activities unfavorable to employees due to a labor-management dispute. Employees may not resort to strikes or undertake any other dispute activities due to a labor-management dispute.