Labor minister Lee Sang Soo, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, Minju Nochong) chairman Jo Jun Ho, Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU, Han'guk Nochong) chairman Lee Yong Deuk, and Korean Employers Federation president Lee Soo Young got together to talk about issues such as "irregular workers" at a discussion format organized by the Hankyoreh. Mostly it was just a time in which they confirmed their differences, but it was still a little progress just having them meet together, since there has been no dialogue for some time now.
It would of course be too much to expect there to be an immediate return of regular dialogue between labor, business, and the government. None of the three parties denies the legitimacy of dialogue and negotiation, but the mutual distrust is so deep. As noted by KCTU chairman Jo, restoring confidence is going to be the premise for dialogue.
All said and done it is the government that has the greater responsibility to bear for the breakdown in trust. The previous labor minister, Kim Dae Hwan, turned the situation into an emotionalized confrontation by at every important juncture making comments that angered labor. The most critical problem has of course been the way the government dealt with the legislation on irregular workers. It pursued the legislation despite opposition from labor, and late last month members of the ruling Uri and main opposition Grand National parties on the National Assembly's environment and labor committee voted to approve it.
During the discussion organized by the Hankyoreh the representatives of labor, business, and government appeared to want to work for a breakthrough in the situation. When Jo asked Lee to resolve the drawn-out disputes that exist at certain places of work, Lee said he would "take a deep interest and endeavor" to bring them to an end. It is key that the government takes a good-faith approach to the biggest issue of all, the irregular worker legislation, because Lee said there is no knowing what could result from dialogue when there is only a month before the bill is passed by the full Assembly. We hope to see the government respond in good faith to demands that the legislation be debated again.
Even if the irregular worker issue is not to be resolved, there are still piles of other problems to deal with, including the "plan on a higher level of labor-business relations," resolving socioeconomic disparity, creating jobs, and other issues that do not look easy to find points of compromise on. Key to resolving those concerns will be how well the parties involved can create a consensus within society.
Doing that will require reconsidering the format known as the "tripartite commission" of labor, business, and government, put in motion in early 1998. So far the commission has had individuals there to serve the public interest mediate areas of labor-business confrontation, then create compromise proposals when both sides fail to compromise by themselves. The fact of the matter is that saying it is about "social consensus" while actually being little more than "mediation" has not been very effective. That being the case, labor issues need to be on the agenda of discussion by society as a whole, and there has to be a way to create agreements that are enforced by society. Insisting on the current format will not resolve the distrust and rejection of public negotiations, and it would make it hard for there to be stability in labor-business relations.
The Hankyoreh, 15 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Time to Rethink Labor, Business, Government Relationship |
