Korea seeks to forge cooperative labor
culture
By Kim Dae-hwan, Minister of Labor, RoK
The year 2004 began amid worries that
industrial relations would become rather unstable due to slow economic recovery,
employment insecurity, polarization of the labor market and plenty of controversial issues
such as the 40-hour workweek, irregular workers, industry-level negotiations, etc., on
which labor and management hold very different opinions.
Fortunately, given the current difficult
economic and employment situations, all actors have shared the common view to establish
mutually beneficial industrial relations through dialogue and cooperation rather than
confrontation since the beginning of this year.
In February, a social pact on job creation
was reached and the Democratic Labor Party entered the National Assembly as a result of
the April general election.
In early June, the high-level Tripartite
Meeting was organized and began a discussion to reform the Tripartite Commission and
restore a dialogue channel.
Since wage and collective negotiations
started in June, the number of labor-management conflicts at industrial sites surged,
beginning with strikes by health and medical trade unions, followed by three simultaneous
protests and other strikes, both large and small, at the enterprise level.
But after peaking in late July, most of these
conflicts were peacefully resolved.
We evaluated industrial relations in the
first half, focusing on wage and collective negotiations and industrial disputes.
First, the number of industrial disputes at
the enterprise level grew considerably higher compared to last year.
However, the early settlement of major
disputes at large companies and with metalworkers, such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Motor,
resulted in fewer work days lost due to strikes.
And thanks to the peaceful conclusion of
large disputes which would have had enormous influence on the national economy and
people’s lives, industrial relations improved in comparison with previous year.
In particular, most strikes were resolved
autonomously between the employer and workers concerned without the government’s
intervention. This suggests that the practice of autonomous settlement is taking hold.
Second, although there were still some
unreasonable negotiating practices - such as unnecessary, energy-consuming struggles
between labor and management, rigid negotiating attitudes and an off-the-cliff strategy in
which strike dates were set in advance - during this year’s wage and collective
negotiations, we could also see the possibility that negotiating behavior and strike
practices were becoming more reasonable.
Unions voluntarily gave up or refrained from
radical and illegal activities, such as occupying and blocking access to workplaces, which
had frequently happened in the past.
Representatives from labor, management and
government join hands after a news conference to announce the Social Convention on Job
Creation.
They also made efforts to maintain essential
services so as not to harm the public interest, following public opinion against extreme
and irrational strikes, and even called off some strike actions.
On the other hand, a growing number of
employers adhered to the principles of "no work, no pay" when unions made
unreasonable demands or went on strike and punished illegal activities.
Such efforts by labor and management seem to
be an important stepping stone toward establishing reasonable negotiating practices based
on laws and principles.
Third, on the issues in dispute such as wage
increases, 40-hour workweek, casual workers, industry-level negotiations, etc, most wage
and collective negotiations were concluded in a desirable way.
Given difficult economic and labor market
situations, wage negotiations were concluded to allow relatively low wage increases last
year.
As for the 40-hour workweek applied to
workplaces with 1,000 workers or more in July this year, most workplaces, though
experiencing some hardships at the early stage, concluded their negotiations by agreeing
to reduce holidays and leave, but maintain wage levels.
However, it is regrettable that because of
the lack of preparation by both labor and management despite the broad influence of the
40-hour workweek on corporate management, substantial negotiations started when they were
on the verge of strikes, consequently prolonging the whole negotiation process and thus
failing to utilize the changes to contribute to better productivity and job creation.
The issue of irregular workers, though hotly
debated in society, was not seriously contended during wage and collective negotiations at
the enterprise level.
This year industry-level negotiations were
concluded without difficulties. For instance, the health-care sector, like the metal and
financial sector last year, conducted industry-level negotiations and reached an agreement
autonomously without requiring compulsory arbitration.
However, some problems remain to be solved,
such as prolonged negotiations over industry-level representatives, multiple negotiations
and continued strikes by some union branches even after tentative agreements were reached
at the industry level.
The government, as shown in this year’s
wage and collective negotiation processes, will continue to refrain from intervening in
industrial disputes and adhere to the principle of autonomous settlement, while at the
same time strictly dealing with illegal activities, regardless of whether they are
committed by employers or workers. By doing so, it will establish the labor-management
practices of abiding by laws and principles.
In addition, the government will
comprehensively assess the results of this year’s wage and collective negotiations
and industrial disputes and try to find ways to improve them. This will help us to prepare
for next year and further improve and develop industrial relations.
Along with this, the government will
implement mid and long-term measures to stabilize industrial relations as planned in the
second half of this year.
To begin with, the government will resume the
high-level Tripartite Meeting through which it intends to build a dialogue channel, come
up with measures to reform the Tripartite Commission and to spread the culture of dialogue
and compromise at the industry, regional and enterprise levels.
To further strengthen the dispute settlement
system, Labor Relations Commissions will provide professional mediation services from
before a dispute takes place until it is completely resolved, and their functions will be
reinforced to promptly settle industrial disputes.
The government will push without delay for
legislation to protect irregular workers and to allow public-official trade unions, which
were promised this year, by submitting relevant bills to the National Assembly.
As for the advancement of industrial
relations laws and systems, the government is planning to have substantial discussions at
the Tripartite Commission based on the results of discussions at the Tripartite Meeting.
Although we saw the possibility of improved
industrial relations this year, there are still some worksites which have yet to establish
rational industrial relations and repeat industrial disputes every year.
This is far from the expectation of people
who hope to see economic recovery and industrial peace.
Because labor-management problems, coupled
with political and economic situations, have remained confrontational for quite a long
time, it may be difficult to solve them in a short time.
But with labor movements gradually absorbed
into the formal political arena and transparent management spreading, industrial relations
are likely to be increasingly stabilized.
For this day to come earlier, labor,
management and the government should further strengthen their joint efforts.
The government will try to advance industrial
relations from every aspect, including better awareness, practices, laws and systems by
building trust and promoting dialogue among labor, management and the government to
address such issues as labor-management confrontations and labor market polarization.
However, stable industrial relations cannot
be achieved only by the government’s efforts.
That is the reason that both labor and
management have to move away from confrontational industrial relations and take a leading
role in spreading transparent management and open-minded labor movements in this era of
democratization and openness.
We hope that with encouragement and support
from the public and joint efforts by labor, management and the government, this
year’s wage and collective agreements will help to move our industrial relations
another step forward.
(Courtesy: Korea Now, Embassy of
Korea) |
