노동이사제 법제화, 필요한가?

Abstract

The labor director system, in which workers participate at the board of directors, is rapidly spreading around the public sector. This paper raises fundamental questions about the labor director, such as whether it is necessary to introduce the labor director in the current situation where the introduction of the labor director is spreading by government policy. The labor director is a product of the special historical situation in Germany after World War II. German companies have the two-tier board system that is compatible with the supervisory board and the management board, and the labor director is operated in the supervisory board. In Germany, labor unions are organized by industry and collective bargaining is mainly conducted between industry unions and employers’ organizations. Studies on the economic and labor relations performance of the labor director have confirmed that there is no significant relation between the labor director system and corporate performance. The number of companies operating labor directors in Germany continues to decline. Labor director is a system that operates only in some European countries. And in European countries as a whole, there is a tendency to weaken the labor director system. From the above review, it is judged that the need for Korean companies to introduce the labor director is not high. Party autonomy and labor-management autonomy are constitutional values ​​that should be respected. To respect and to protect labor autonomy, labor issues should be resolved by the labor-management parties as much as possible, and legislative and judicial interventions in labor-management issues should be kept to a minimum. As a result of examining the feasibility of legislating the labor director in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and impact, it is difficult to find the necessity and validity that the introduction of the labor director should be legislated. It is judged that it is not appropriate to legislate the labor director system while limiting party autonomy and labor autonomy, constitutional values ​​that the state is obligated to respect and protect. It is reasonable to place the decision on whether to introduce the labor director in the areas of party autonomy and labor-management autonomy without intervention by government.