• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-28
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• 2018

This paper studies and evaluates the present situation of three decades of 'Minjoonojoundong' in Korea with a long-term perspectives. It had grown up during 1987 labour regime era and has declined abruptly since 1998. The backdrop of this decline was the transformation of labour regime from the 1987 regime to the dependent neoliberal one. The Korean labour movement did not respond to the changed structural conditions as it sustained its old strategies, militant unionism. Now the 'Minjoonojoundong' in Korea has met three difficult problems that are connected with each others. They are militant economism, political economism and formal industrial unionism. However the 'Candlelight Revolution' occurred in 2016 winter has opened a chance of regime change that could strengthen the 'Minjoonojoundong'. The revolution was primarily a political one. But it also created a dramatic situation change in labour politics. The candle-citizen demanded radical change of the polarized Korean society and overflown contingent workers. So it is a time of radical and overall innovation for the 'Minjoonojoundong' and KCTU. And they have to keep the long-term strategical vision of labour regime change.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.57
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• pp.69-83
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• 2012

This paper attempts to explore the development of the media labor movement and its tasks. Due to the unique characteristics of information delivered by media, the media labor movement under the authoritarian regime was oppressed and regulated by the government. As democratization has proceeded, the state's oppression and regulation of media has been weakened. However, media workers should wage the struggle for union recognition and independence of editorship simultaneously. Because media unions as labor market organizations also seek for job security and wage increase, we need to understand both political dimension and economic dimension of union activities in media industry. While state's control over media has been diminished in the late 1900s, competition in media industry has been intensified. As small number of media corporations monopolizes the media market, the ecology of media has been completely transformed. Unions in media industry should respond to the change of the media ecology and should build solidarity among media workers at the same time. The achievement of the public nature of media as a part of democratization and building union federation of media industry as a response to the marketization of media still remain as an epochal task for media unions. Like the case of "Hope Bus" in the strike in Hanjin Heavy Industrial Corporation, solidarity between citizens and striking workers should be strengthened.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.415-441
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• 2008

본 연구는 자동차부품산업의 구조조정과정에서 나타나는 산업재편과정과 노동조합의 대응을 조직환경론의 세 가지 관점으로 분석해보려고 하는 탐색적 연구이다. 조직환경론은 환경변화에 대응하는 조직의 논리와 전략을 다루는 분야이다. 따라서 조직환경론의 분야는 조직과 환경의 관계를 어떻게 보아야 할 것인가, 그리고 조직이 어떻게 환경변화에 대처하느냐, 나아가 환경의 변화를 유도하기 위하여 어떤 자원과 전략을 활용해야 하는가에 대한 유용한 시사점을 줄 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 환경과의 의존을 회피하는 것이 좋다는 자원의존관점, 오히려 환경에 대한 의존을 높여 성공할 수 있다는 협력 네트워크관점, 조직변화는 불가능하고 적소를 찾아가야 한다는 조직군생태학 관점을 적용하여 기업의 전략을 분석해보고자 하였다. 이에 따라 원청업체 의존을 회피하려는 기업, 협력네트워크관계에 적극적으로 가입하는 기업, 한국이라는 조직군을 떠나 해외로 이전하는 기업을 대상으로 설문을 분석하고 그 영향요인을 살펴보고자하였다. 분석결과 자원의존을 회피하려는 기업은 가격의 변동과 단가인하가 큰 경우 회피하려는 성향을 보였으며, 반대로 협력네트워크에 들어가려고 하는 기업은 매출의존도가 높아 납품안정성을 기하려는 목적이었으며 해외로 이전하는 기업은 장기간의 경험과 규모가 커지며 새로운 장소로 이전하는 것으로 분석되었다. 즉 자동차부품기업은 단가나 가격의 변화가 심하면 의존을 줄이려고 하며, 안정적 납품을 원할 때 의존을 늘리며 이러한 상태가 장기화되면 새로운 적소를 찾아 떠나는 경향이 있는 것으로 이해된다. 또한 노동조합의 대응차원에서 자원의존관점에 의하여 내부적 전략방향의 설정과 공동연대의 필요성을, 협력네트워크관점에 의하여 산별노조 및 연대의 필요성을, 조직군생태학 관점에 의하여 노동자 통제권의 확보문제를 이론적 차원에서 정리하고자 하였으며 실증은 추후의 연구과제로 제시하였다.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.143-178
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• 2018

This study is aimed at empirically examining the Korean unionists' solidarity using the survey of 476 full-time workers employed at the unionized workplace. It also questions the determinants affecting the unionist' willingness to be united with the contingent workers. The Korean unionism has faced the biggest challenge, that is, the crisis-in-worker solidarity. Although prior literature has noted the crisis in Korean unionism, it lacks a solid investigation of individual workers' perception of solidarity which may play a key role in building up worker-solidarity in the union movement. This study first examines the three sources of solidarity allowing for the historical and theoretical approach to the modern solidarity; economic interests, worker-identification and empathy, which provide an emprical framework for this study. The empirical evidences shows dynamic aspects as of how the full-timers perceive solidarity with the non-regular workers in the three terms of solidarity. First, full-time unionists share rare willingness to be united with contingent workers in terms of economic solidarity. In addition, the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) with social reformative orientation has little influence on increasing their member's orientation towards solidarity. Second, it is found that full-time unionists have more willingness to identify themselves with the non-regular workers as a member of the labor class. The KTCU is also positively associated with their member's will of identification with contingent workers. Third, the unionists, however, show little empathy toward non-regular workers, which is contrast to the willingness to worker identification. No causality is also found between the KTCU and their members' empathy for the others.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.277-306
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• 2017

This article empirically explores the impact of minijobs in the wake of the Hartz reform in Germany on women's employment relationship. Theoretically it is of great significance to examine whether the minijobs play an active role as a bridge in leading the minijobbers to regular, socially secured jobs or not. Several interviews as well as secondary data I could get during my sabbatical in 2015 were used to test the theory. One of the main findings was the fact that the minijob labor market opened doors wide for women in Germany, particularly for career-interrupted women, students or pensioners. However, the minijob can easily become a trap of lowest income and poverty for women. Most women minjobbers cannot go over to regular, socially secured jobs. Especially in terms of collective industrial relations, it considerably damages the power of industrial unions and the legal binding force of collective agreement. In conclusion, this study makes it clear that the labor market segmentation theory rather than the transitional labor market theory is valid in accounting for the reality of minijob in Germany. In other words, the minijob in Germany has a Toijan Horse Effect. It also suggests, from a practical viewpoint, that German industrial unions or works councils organize the minijobbers and that the coverage of collective agreements be extended to the minijobbers. Consequently, the time-selective part-timer model put into practice in Korea in 2014 is not only invalid but also undesirable.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.429-446
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• 2018

The $4^{th}$ Industrial Revolution, symbolizing the explosive innovation of digital technologies, is expected to have a great impact on labor relations and produce a lot of contested issues. The labor-management issues, created by the $4^{th}$ Industrial Revolution, are as follows: (1) employment restructuring, job re-allocation, and skill-reformation, driven by the technological displacement, resetting of worker-machine relationship, and negotiation on labor intensity and autonomy, (2) the legislation of institutional protection for the digital dependent self-employed, derived from the proliferation of platform-mediated labor, and the statutory recognition of their 'workerness', (3) unemployment safety net, income guarantee, and skill formation assistance for precarious workeforce, (4) the protection of worker privacy from workplace surveillance, (5) protecting labor rights of the digital dependent self-employed and prcarious workers and guaranteeing their unionization and collective bargaining. In comparing how labor unions in Western countries have responded to the $4^{th}$ Industrial Revolution, German unions have showed a strategic approach of policy formation toward digital technological innovations by effectively building and utilizing diverse channel of social dialogue and collective bargaining, while those in the US and UK have adopted the traditional approach of organizing and protesting in attempting to protect the interest of platform-mediated workers (i.e. Uber drivers). In light of the best practice demonstrated by German unions, it is necessary to build the process of productive policy consultation among three parties- the government, employers, and labor unions - at multi levels (i.e. workplace, sectoral and national levels), in order to prevent the destructive damage as well as labor-management confrotation, caused by digital technological innovations. In such policy consultation procesess, moreover, the inclusive and integrated approach is required to tackle with diverse problems, derived from the $4^{th}$ Industrial Revolution, in a holistic manner.