• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.25
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• pp.407-428
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• 2008

The purpose of the study is to examine a new paradigm of Korea labor movement so that Korea labor union may adapt itself to change of labor environment and raise its organizing rate. Examining assignments to have to practice for a new paradigm of a labor union in the 21st century. First, common industrial relations should be constructed. To achieve it, it is necessary that labor and management have a strong partnership as a group sharing common destiny on the basis of mutual confidence. Second, unionism in the side of social reform should be settled down. Labor and capital should grope coexistence and co-prosperity through conversation and negotiation, escaping from opposition and fighting. Third, service function of a labor union should be strengthened. A labor union should offer service as pursuit of diversity, self-management and autonomy in work for laborers. Fourth, labor and management should try to stabilize industrial relations followed by industrial-level negotiations. Fifth, labor and management should try to develop human resources in cooperation between the two. Labor and management should participate in developing human resources on the basis of cooperation. If a labor union has a positive practice for a new paradigm of labor movement as above and recognition about a labor union is changed, industrial relations will realize more developmental relation.

• 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 Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-136
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• 2018

As the number of precariats grows, their poor labor rights and working conditions are becoming issues of major concern all over the world but how to represent their interests is still controversial. Basically, the union is the institutional mechanism for representing the labor rights. However, it is difficult for workplaceand enterprise-based unions to fully represent the labor rights of precarious workers. Recently, so-called community unions have emerged in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan as independent organizations representing the rights of non-standard workers. Community unions refer to labor unions which organize precarious workers across firms at the regional level. They are known to be suitable for covering the unemployed, job seekers, indirect employment workers, short-term contract workers, and small-firm workers. In South Korea, since the financial crisis in 1997, a dramatic increase in the number of precariats leads to emergence of new types of trade unions such as the Youth Community Union, the Arbeit Workers' Union, the Artist Social Union and the Korea Musician's Union. They have engaged in various activities to guarantee the labor rights of precariats. Recently, researchers have also tried to identify defining characteristics of these new forms of unionism. To expand research on trade unionism in South Korea, this study compares two different types of community unions: the Youth Community Union and the Arbeit Workers' Union. We believe that this attempt can contribute to the research on the alternative labor movement. For this purpose, this study starts with theoretical discussions on community unions, and compares the Youth Community Union with the Arbeit Workers' Union based on the five characteristics of community unionism: membership and organization structure, the recognition struggle, the type or scope of interest, solidarity with other civic organizations, and the repertoire of resistance strategies. Based on this comparative analysis, this study seeks to foresee the possibility of how community unionism will develop in South Korean in the future.

• 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.