• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.79-107
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• 2002

Britain's public services, especially health service and secondary education are in disarray. The current British government adopted the public-private partnership(PPP) as a major device to bring about public sector reform. In principle, PPPs could be used to outsource all sorts of public services, helping to raise standards by extending choice and competition. Up to now, however, they have been focused mainly on a relatively limited range of ancillary services related to new buildings and their subsequent operation. The unions, especially the unions covering the public sector employees are antagonistic to the PPPs. The unions have been opposing privatizing or resecting of any part of the public services, as these apt to lead insecurity of employment and degradation of working conditions of their members. Most of the union leaders consider that PPPs are 'privatization by stealth'. Even in Britain, which has a long history of trade union movements, to persuade the unions to co-operate to the reform policy has been extremely difficult. To succeed in public sector reform, the government, be it Korean or British, needs strong leadership, consistency in policies between various departments, and persuasive ability to overcome the opposition from the vested-interest group.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.192-210
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• 2011

This paper attempts to analyze the Park regime's labor control strategy. Specifically, the research questions are twofold: (i) what strategy was it the Park regime adopted? and (ii) why did the Park regime adopt it? According to the analysis, the Park regime chose a mixed strategy based on state corporatism in the 1960s, while adopting a market mechanism strategy in the 1970s. The former tried to control unions by a state-created worker organization with the market, and the latter attempted to weaken unions as bargaining agent to a maximum extent by using market mechanism. The basic reason why the Park regime changed its labor control strategy was complex, (i) appearance of the unstable political ad economic signals and (ii) the ineffectiveness of the labor control strategy in the 1960s.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.27-53
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• 2004

This paper analyzes the two cases of labor disputes (Hyundai Motor in 1998 and Power Generation Companies in 2002) in the period of restructuring, by applying the behavioral theory of labor negotiations as a comparative framework. The paper compares th backgrounds of the labor disputes, core issues, bargaining processes, and evolutionary patterns and consequences of the labor disputes at the two cases. The common features, found in the two dispute cases, are strong mistrust and exclusive bargaining attitude between labor unions and management, little feasibility of contract zone in bargaining proposals by the two parties, heteronomous dispute resolution by the intervention of the government, and the lack of learning effect gained from the experience of labor disputes. This comparative case study identifies that the confrontational labor-management relations at the firm level is re-produced by a regressive process of the following circulation: labor-management distrust $\rightarrow$ interest conflict in bargaining demand $\rightarrow$ exclusive bargaining attitude $\rightarrow$ the experience of antagonistic dispute $\rightarrow$ deepened distrust. In conclusion, four parties-labor unions, management, the government, and public press - are required to make much effort to replace the vicious circle of labor-management confrontation by a virtueous cycle of labor-management cooperation.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-83
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• 2017

The Swedish labor market secures flexibility in the use of labor force by means of non-regular workers such as temporary workers among others instead of regular workers' layoffs. Although the labor law reform in the late 2000s made it easier to use temporary workers and the outbreak of the economic crisis strengthened the power of user firms against labor unions, the size of temporary workers was scaled down. It is the aim of this study to analyze the change in the use of temporary workers, to examine the effect of the labor law reform and that of economic crisis in that regard, and to explain how, over the use of temporary workers, user firms' strategy to secure flexibility and labor unions' strategy to regulate flexibility interact with each other so as to establish a new equilibrium through conflicts and compromises. The labor law reform to enhance the flexibility in the use of temporary workers failed to entail amendments of collective contracts. Besides, out of the economic crisis, user firms adopted a new policy to use third party workers more, refraining from employing temporary workers. That's why the number of temporary workers has declined eventually. User firms prefer to use third party workers because they could avoid their own responsibility as an employer and they could rely on 'permanent temporary' workers without any time limit. Labor unions, however, responded with a strategy to lay more strict regulations on the use of third party workers, so that third party workers could be used only for limited cause for external numerical flexibility. As a result, the managed flexibility thesis comes to prevail to the usage of non-regular workers in general beyond the category of agency workers. Korea with severe abuse of third party workers should learn from Swedish labor unions' strategy to provide third party workers with stronger employment security and higher wages so as to prevent user firms from abusing third party workers.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.2
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• pp.141-169
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• 1989

Most of the theories of collective bargaining outcomes start with a set of economic variables. The economic constraints, pressures, and incentives influence the bargaining power relationship between labor union and employer. In this paper, the critical macro and micro economic variables that need to be considered in analyzing the economic context of collective bargaining power relationship is outlined. The focus is on the role that economic forces play in shaping the results of bargaining, that is the outcome of negotiations. In this study, the elasticity of the demand for labor is introduced as one of the most important economic aspects that influence bargaining power. Unions will be most successful in increasing wages when they enjoy an inelastic demand for labor. If the demand for labor is not naturally inelastic, some institutional arrangement for "taking wages out of competition" must be sought. Inflation, business cycle, and income policy are influential in shaping both parties' goals and expectations as well. In addition to the analysis of the economic variables, the nature of power is diagonized with some introductory notions about its care and feeding before proceeding to the details of the above issues.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.277-286
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• 2020

Research on employee commitment to the organization is necessary for human resource management, and the result is applied in practice to improve organizational effectiveness. The aim of the present study is to explore factors affecting organizational commitment at the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. Besides, the relationship between organizational commitment and job performance is examined as well. The research was conducted on a sample consisting of 67 white-collar workers and 260 blue-collar workers at SMEs. A total of 327 valid complete questionnaires were input into SPSS 20 database for processing to provide evidence. The research model and hypotheses were tested using the technique of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The research resultsrevealed that income, reward and welfare, direct manager, working environment, coworker, and promotion opportunity tended to associate positively with organizational commitment. Besides, the finding also showed that, when the employee has a high organizational commitment, it would lead to high job performance. The main findings of this study provided some managerial implications for SMEs, in general, and managers, in particular. It implies that Vietnam's small and medium-sized enterprises should improve these six factors to retain employees as well as enhance their job performance.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.85-117
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• 2018

This paper discusses the development of labor law in Indonesia after the 1998 reformasi. The end of the authoritarian regime and the subsequent introduction of democratic institutions in the country have opened up new spaces to restructure labor relations. The government promulgated a set of new labor laws that has brought tremendous changes to the employment system and the system of labor disputes settlement. In the face of the challenges these changes have created, labor unions are using alternative means to defend their members' interests. This paper shows how labor law reform has set a new social contract between the government, employer associations, and the labor movement.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.81-126
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• 2014

Localization of overseas Korean companies has been regarded as one of vital tasks or strategies for decades. However, labor relations have not been the main object of Korean academic researchers. In this paper, I attempt to analyze strategies of localization in labor relations adopted by overseas Korean companies through a qualitative case study of PT. Miwon Indonesia, which has run business successfully for 40 years with recently achieved industrial peace. The company minimized Korean staffs and maximized Indonesian staffs. It pays more than minimum wage, and observes labor law when using outsourcing workers. The managers of the company recognize their labor union as management partner and support union activities through paying bonus for the union head and travel allowances for solidarity gatherings. There is no discrimination between plural unions. Furthermore, collective bargaining is led by indigenous managers according to the musyawarah, a local principle of bargaining. Therefore, PT. Miwon Indonesia could be regarded as a forerunner of localization in labor management among Korean companies in Indonesia. Miwon's case will serve a useful reference when discussing localization of labor management strategies.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.137-179
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• 2018

To reduce labor market discrimination, there are lively discussions about the role of extant labor regime based on labor unions. It includes both the critical perspective on extant labor movement and the necessity of new actors for resolving discriminations within labor market. Among new actors, the present study focuses on contingent labor centers. Specifically, we have investigated on the development and identity of contingent labor centers as coalition of local government-labor organization. The core content of this study is to reconstruct the activities and strategies of contingent labor centers throughout the longitudinal approach. From many evidences, we can confirm that contingent labor centers have evolved via three phases such as differentiation, de- politicizing, and networks. This finding also provides insights about inside relationships between contingent labor centers and outside tensions between contingent labor center and extant labor organizations. We finally discuss on the theoretical implications of contingent labor center as new actor for contingent worker movement.

• 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.