일본의 협조적 노사관계의 성립 배경과 시사점

Abstract

Japan’s labor relations are considered cooperative or stable. However, there were many complications before Japan’s labor relations matured. In particular, the confrontation between labor and management that arose during the postwar economic reconstruction resulted in unimaginable sacrifices. This taught the labor parties a valuable lesson that they must act in harmony and agreement, which became the basis for the establishment of labor relations in Japan. “Lifelong employment,” “seniority wage system,” and “company-based labor unions” are often listed as the reasons for stabilizing labor–management relations in Japan. These practices were formed through the national policy or the legal system at the cost of enormous sacrifices. In this way, stable labor relations played a decisive role in Japan’s postwar growth. There is a view that Japan’s cooperative labor relations were established due to high economic growth, which could establish sound labor practices. However, this is not true. Japan could achieve high economic growth because labor and management first built a stable employment relationship based on a confrontational structure. In contrast, in the case of Korea, labor relations have also made considerable progress since the reorganization of the labor law system, which had remained premodern before and after the 1987 system. However, a trusting relationship between labor and management has not yet been formed fully, and unstable labor–management relations have persisted. This gives us a déjà vu of Japan’s labor relations during high economic growth. In this sense, a review of the formation of cooperative labor relations in Japan can facilitate the creation of similar conditions in Korean society.