경제민주화와 노동법

Abstract

In the modern society, the technological innovation, economic growth, majoring corporates and development of multinational corporates have caused the increase in the social responsibilities of the corporates. Therefore, it is not considered to be important to mediate the conflicting claims of the parties concerned and for the employees, who are directly in charge of the production, to speak up. Therefore, the future-oriented paradigm shift to the employee participation in management system is positively considered to bring the benefits to both employees and corporates. In Korea, the progressive civil society has created a bond of sympathy in the general and presidential elections in 2012 with the 3 major topics of ‘economic democratization,’ ‘universal welfare state’ and ‘enhancement of labor power.’ As the administration of Park GeunHye came into power, the ‘economic democratization’ has become the major concern and the relevant action plans were announced. Ever since the 1960’s the main issues of economic democratization for the Western and North America economy were the democratization of workplaces, expansion of the industrial democracy and introduction of the employee participation in management system. At the same time, the interests in the income distribution, same as the profit distribution system, the co-determination system for the participation of employees in management, and the economic democratization that institutionalizes the participation of the board of directors of corporates have increased and the various relevant political measures were introduced. In general, ‘employee participation in management system’ means reflecting the opinions of employees and the labor union in making decisions for a corporate’s business issues and the concept is considered a comprehensive concept of participation in capitals, participation in benefits and participation in decision makings. Yet, this study focuses on the participation of employees and the representative labor union in decision makings in business management of corporations, precisely. Such employee participation system is considered to be a certain part of the labor-managment system in developed countries. Especially in 1974, the international labor organization had clarified that “the participation of employees in business management is no longer a matter of its implementation, but is of the method of its implementation.” In Korea, such system is promoted by Labor-Management Council, a committee (Article 3, regulations on the participation of employees and enhancement of cooperation) that pursues an enhancement of welfare for employees and a healthy development of corporations through the participations and cooperation of employees and the users. A weakness of the currently effective employee-employer agreement structure is that it is managed under an excessive pressure of the legal regulations. Accordingly, there is a necessity for the focus on the type of governmental support for establishing the trust between the employees and the employers, followed by the legal and structural improvement for the labor-management agreement structure. It is a well-known fact that there is an unfavorable relationship between the employees and the management corporates, of which the relationship is not being stabilized because of the disagreement and conflicts, and such relationship is holding Korean society back from taking a leap in terms of economic and social quality. Accordingly, the successful settlement of the employee participation system is considered to play an important role in turning such unfavorable labor-management relationship into a cooperative relationship by referring to the various examples from advanced countries of labor system.