Employment Relations in Non-unionized Workplaces

This chapter looks at the establishment and operation of labor-management councils (LMCs) in non-unionized workplaces. Since the 1980s, researchers in the West have engaged in theoretical and empirical studies on a new paradigm for employment relations that replaces traditional collective industrial relations;1 however, systematic research on this topic has been conducted only recently in Korea (Bae, Nho, and Shim, 2007). Realizing that a discussion on labor-management councils is not enough to describe the whole picture of employment relationships in non-unionized workplaces, it should be noted that the analysis in this chapter is limited only to the employment relationship in the non-unionized workplaces that is manifested in the operations of labormanagement councils. LMCs are supposed to exist in both unionized and non-unionized workplaces and are central to Korea’s institutional mechanisms for workers’ participation. The institutional framework for LMCs has been changed numerous times over the years and is currently regulated by the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation (hereafter the Workers’ Participation Act) legislated in 1997 (Kim, 2007). This legislation requires the establishment of LMCs at establishments (workplaces) with 30 or more full-time employees where working conditions of employees are decided.