A Study on the International Comparision of Industrial Relations Model and the Shopsteward Education System in Industrial Union

Ⅰ. The Comparison of Industrial Relations Model

 Trade unions in Korea have experienced many struggles and negotiations with employers and government since 1987. As labour movement have become aware of the importance of the strategy and labour policies, trade union confederations(KCTU and FKTU) have begun to study and discuss about the future of labour movement in Korea.

 This study explores the significance of industrial relations model in society. Especially this paper deal with the comparison German with Swedish industrial relations model. Through this survey, we will find out the images of desirable model in the Korean situation. This deals with the following subject: social economic system, collective bargaining, management participation and labour market policy etc.

 <social economic system>

 Social market economy in Germany has been developed by German 'order liberalism economists'(Walter Eucken, Alfred Müller-Armack etc.) after the 2nd world war. They criticised the ineffectiveness of 'free competition capitalism' and 'socialist economy'. Social market economy has pursued both free market and social welfare. Recently, labour movement and SPD also accepted the ideas of social market economy.

 Mixed economy in Sweden has connected with the 'democratic socialism'(social democracy) of trade union movement and SAP. Ernst Wigforss, the theoretical leader of SAP argued the functional socialism and reform of capitalism economy. Practically, Swedish government carried out the economic policy which mixed the Keynesian economics and social democratic policy. After 1950's SAP and trade union executed the solidaristic wage policy and active labour market policy according to Rehn-Meidner Model.   

 <collective bargaining>

 The structure of collective bargaining in Germany and Sweden has been centralized by industrial union level or union confederation level. For instance, Sweden LO has negotiated with SAF(Swedish Employer Federation) from 1956 to 1990. But recently employers have maintained the decentralization and flexibility of collective bargaining. Trade union movement reacted against this attack with 'solidaristic work policy'(Sweden) and 'modernization of labour movement'. And they consolidated the status and role of the workplace union organization.   

 <management participation>

 Sweden and Germany have different worker's organization in workplace level. Germany has 'works council'(independent from trade union), Sweden has 'union club' in workplace. While, two countries have the same law about management participation of workers, 'codetermination law'. In Sweden the number of trade union officials was determined by the negotiation with employer, while in Germany that was decided by the law. Germany owned the dual system of trade union and works council, Sweden has the one system of trade union.

 <labour market policy>

 Both countries have the similar policy in labour market policy. They have unemployment insurance, labour market education program, public employment office etc. But Germany and Sweden showed some difference in the percentage of active and reactive policy. In Sweden the percentage of active policy out of total labour market policy(1997) was 49.2%, while in Germany that was 33%. Therefore Sweden stressed the importance of active policy.

 In Korea labour movements have many tasks. We may construct the democratic economic system and management participation. In this aspect, the theory and practice of Germany and Sweden gave us many lessons. First of all, labour movements in Korea need to practice solidaristic and democratic policies in the level of national and enterprise.

 Ⅱ. The Ideologies of Trade Union Movements: Critical Review and Groping for Alternatives

 <Basic Perspectives>

 What is important in arguing with the ideologies of Trade Union Movements is, most of all, to make clear the answer to the question, "what are trade unions?". This means the ideologies of trade union movements should be set up on the basis of the concrete conditions of the past, present and future of trade unions. Otherwise, all the theories and practices of trade union movements would be something that is distorted by the discordance between the purpose of trade union and the ideology of trade union movement. And it is also important not to neglect that trade unions are the ones that are parts of a given society. Therefore the trade union movements should have positions on the social system, the state, the party, the class and the like.

 On the social system : The trade union is workers' own organisation to protect workers rights and to improve their status in a given society, so the trade union as workers' organisation would survive regardless of the social system, capitalist or socialist.

 On the state : If the ideology of trade union movement would be sep up on the basis of workers' interests, the state could be utilised or be the target of struggle for the workers' interests.

 On the party : The trade union is not the political party. Trade union movement as a mass movement can not be the party movement for the acquisition of state power. Needless to say, trade unions naturally do their political practices and they are important to improve the workers interests. But this never means that trade union movement should be subordinated to the party movement.

 On the class : It is very important that trade union movements do exert their all possible efforts to realise the class interests, but not forget the diverse interests among workers. For this purpose, therefore, there should be the class formation perspective.

 <Critical Reviews of the ideologies of Trade Union Movement>

 A. The Purpose of Trade Unions and the Ideology of Trade Union Movement

 Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of streams which relate the purpose of trade unions and the ideological identification of trade union movement. One is Flanders' or so-called Webbsian-style definition of trade unions in which the purpose of trade union is inferred after probing the trade union behaviour, and on which to identify the ideology of trade union movement. The other is the ideological definition of trade union from the outsiders, and on which to impose the ideology of trade union movement.

 B. Various Ideologies of Trade Union Movements : Some Evaluations

 (a) Pluralist Perspectives : Trade Unions as Industrial Regulator

In pluralist perspective, trade union's purpose is to serve the interests of trade union members. So the most important function of trade unions is job regulation, by which the  interests of trade union members can be most protected, and the scope of regulation should be enlarged to the level of whole society. In this perspective the purpose of trade unions is found out in the regulation or improvement of working conditions, and that can be inferred from the trade unions behaviour. Alan Flanders, pluralist, argues that trade unions are the mixture of movement and organisation. Therefore it is very important for the theories and practices not to neglect the such characteristics of trade unions. Till now, the pluralist perspectives on trade union movement have been criticised from the viewpoints that they have common interest in preserving the present capitalist social orders. Nevertheless, the pluralist perspectives have some important merit that they begin their argument not from the abstract ideas but from the concrete facts.

 (b) Syndicalist Perspective : Trade Unions as Social Emancipator

Syndicalism can be defined as thoughts and movements to realise socialism via trade unions. It is composed of various trends, examples of which are anarcho-syndicalism, one big unionism, guild socialism and the like. But their common characteristics are as follows: arguing for workers' control of industry via trade unions and advocating for anti-statism; the overthrow of capitalism can not be achieved from political methods, but only from the general strike of trade unions, the true socialism can be built, where the workers' control would be realised; it is emphasised industrial trade union is necessary to attain the ultimate goal of industrial regulations. In the history of trade union movement in Latin countries, revolutionary syndicalism have showed the one-sided struggle line based on the unduely blind belief in general strike and excessive irrationality of rejection against pragmatic negotiation in the labour market and reform through compromise and struggle in the political sphere, which have resulted in weakening of labour movements' organisational capacity in those countries. Nevertheless, the thoughts or movement of the workers' control and workers' self-management in syndicalism have been recognised as very important in the trade union movement in that it has been founded on the premise that the working class should improve their own lot for themselves, and that it have emphasised democracy as the very important organisational principle of trade unions and opposed the institutionalization of nondemocratic practices like the trade union bureaucracy.

 (c) Marxist-Leninist Perspective : Trade Unions as Instrument of Revolution

In Marxist-Leninist perspective, trade unions have been treated in their relationship with the socialist revolution. Trade unions as workers' mass organisation, together with workers' party as workers' vanguard organisation, are the primary organisational form of working class movement, So they should not be only for the trade union members but for the interests of the working class as a whole which mean the emancipation from the exploitative orders of capitalism, and for which socialist revolution is necessary to overthrow the capitalist society founded on the private ownership and the subject in the revolution is working class. Therefore trade union become the primary instrument for the socialist revolution. Many important classical Marxist-Leninists, e.g. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, Gramsci, and the like, even if they have exercised great positive influences upon the labor movements, thought that the status of trade union in the socialist revolution is relatively limited. In this perspective, trade union is very important in that the working class is regarded as the subject of the socialist revolution and that it is trade unions that the very working class for themselves organised spontaneously. But this perspective have left the problem of trade union autonomy.

 (d) Organicist Perspective : Trade Unions as Moral Force

In the Organicist perspective, the purpose of trade unions are regarded as improvement of moral welfare of the society or the state to which the trade unions belong. Therefore, if not disturbing the advancement of the social members' moral status and the improvement of the welfare in the whole societies, almost all the behaviour of trade unions can be justified. In this respect, Christian Socialism and Social Catholicism have fairly contributed to the development of trade union movement, which should be properly appreciated. Nevertheless, they are too optimistic in that they have regarded the contradictions in the capitalist society to be dissolved by the social ethics imposed by them. This perspective have the important shortcomings in that there are many problems which can not be settled in case various ethics are conflicting with one another.

 (e) Authoritarian Perspective : Trade Union as Instrument of the State

If the organicist perspective goes to extremes, there comes the authoritarian perspective. In this perspective, the state embodies the interests of all the society. In this situation, trade unions become the organ exercising the subordinate role to the authority. In case of post-revolutionary Russia, the party's control on the trade unions became primary. That is, Trade union became set up as the important agency in attaining the goals of the state, the party or the whole society, rather than as organisation to protect and improve the concrete interests of trade union members. Russia communism have not recognised the trade unions' autonomy as important, and over-emphasised their role as the transmission belt between the party and the working mass. It can be said that the totalitarian transformation of Russian society was closely related with the overemphasis of the transmission belt role and the neglection of trade unions' autonomy.

 <The Autonomy of Trade Union Movements>

 A. Trade Union Autonomy : An Important Issue in Trade Union Movement

 The problem of trade union autonomy is beyond the problem of trade union-labor party relationship, but related to the purpose of trade unions. Even if trade unions act politically, trade union purpose itself is not to acquire the political power but to protect workers' various interests, therefore trade unions have different organisational characteristics compared to the parties. From this, the autonomy of trade unions from the political forces is necessary to realise their purposes. But the political parties want to utilise the trade unions as the instrument for the acquirement of political power. These situation provoke the problem of trade union antonomy. In the history of the relationship between the socialist movement and trade union movement, we can easily find this problem.

 B. Relations between Trade Unions and Parties : Cases in Sweden and Germany

 In Sweden and Germany, trade union movement in their early stages had been led by the Social Democratic Party. Therefore, generally speaking, the two trade union movements had been subordinated to the socialist parties. But as trade union movement grew to stand on their own legs, they wanted to be autonomous from the parties and this caused the conflictual situation between the parties and trade unions. At last, the two trade union movements have succeeded in establishing their autonomous status from the socialist parties. The Social Democratic Parties have played great role in the growth of trade union forces, but trade union movement had the different prospect from the revolutionary socialist movements. After trade unions have grown to exercise their own independent political practices based on the reformative ways, the revolutionary socialist movement could not utilise trade unions as their tactical instruments any more. It can be said that, from then on, how to maintain the cooperative relations between the two forces have become the important issue.

 C. Marx and the Trade Union Autonomy : Hamann Interview

 The contents of Hamann interview with Marx had been very important for the German trade union movement leaders, for Marx was the prop and the stay of the german labor movement theoretically and practically, and he said in the interview that trade union should not be subordinated to political parties. For the trade union leaders, Marx' argument was the basis on which they insist on trade union autonomy from the party. Trade union autonomy from the parties means that trade union movement could and should become the independent subject in the political and social movement, and, because trade union is different from the party, the political practices of trade unions should be exercised on the basis of recognition of their organisational limitations. If then, trade union movements should exercise the two organically and dialectically combined functions, one of which is to advance the working class situation in the existing social, economic, and political systems, and to do this trade union should do their best to improve the terms and conditions of wage and employment, and social policies. The other is to abolish the class society, which means that trade union movement should get rid of the commodity character of labour, and establish human dignity in all the spheres including workplace, society, state and the like. For this purpose, trade union movement should establish the unity of free majorities, and in doing so, above all, represent their members' interests as effectively as possible and realise the trade union democracy.  

 D. Political Implication of Trade Union Autonomy

 Trade union autonomy has affinities for the political pluralism. In totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, trade union autonomy is denied. In that regimes, therefore, the struggles for trade union autonomy mean the anti-regime movement. Trade union autonomy has affinities for democracy. Trade union autonomy is the basic condition for the protection of workers' interests, and the realisation of the latter is possible only in the democratic regime. Therefore, in nondemocratic regime. the struggles for workers' interests means the ones for trade union autonomy.

 <Groping for the Ideology of Trade Union Movement in Korea : Democracy in Workplace and Society>

 A. Basic Premise

 Trade union movement should reject the collapse or catastrophe theory of capitalism. If based on that theory, it is liable to fail to perceive the importance of trade union's daily struggles for the interests of trade union members. It means preparing the future without any concrete and real foundation.

 It is necessary to admit the pluralist perspectives. It would help trade union movement to eradicate the possibilities of unitary, totalitarian and authoritarian interpretation of the state or the society, and to enlarge the scope of the trade union activities. And, it would help trade union movement to recognise itself not only as simple economic struggle against the capital but also as the struggle to win the rights of the citizen. Above all, it helps to grasp the diversity of working mass composition, which would show the necessity of mediating the needs of the individual workers and the whole working class.

 Trade union movement should maintain the autonomy firmly. It is closely related with the problem of combination of organisation with movement.

 Trade union movement should permit its tactical flexibility.

 B. Democracy in Workplace and Society : Solidarity & Equality, Workers' Participation

 Trade union movement should accept democracy as their general principle. Nothing other than democracy could guarantee the human dignity and equality. In nondemocratic society, economic emancipation of workers is impossible.

 Trade union movement should adopt the strategy of workers' participation which should be radicalised toward workers' control via encroaching control strategy.

 Trade union movement should deal with the problem of solidarity of workers in the viewpoint of working class formation. Especially, Trade union movement should be able to make working mass participate in labor movement with the vision for future as the working class members.

 Ⅲ. The Macro-determinants of Union Membership in Korea

 This study deals with the following topic: What is the macro-determinants of union membership change in Korea since 1970. The conclusion of this study is summarized as follows.

 Firstly, a regression model with business cycle and structure shift as independent variables can explain 48.2% of union membership change in Korea since 1970. The coefficient of business cycle and the constant are statistically insignificant, and the coefficient of structure shift is statistically significant. But a regression model which includes the years of 1980, 1987 and 1988 as dummy variables can explain 86.4% of union membership change since 1970. And all the business cycle, structure shift and the constant are statistically significant. This means that we can't explain the macro-determinants of union membership change in Korea without consideration of 'the intense transformation of political system and industrial relations' occurred in 1980 and from 1987 to 1988.

 Secondly, all the hypotheses of the business cycle, structure shift and industrial relations paradigm shift can reasonably explain union membership change. This means that we can appropriately explain the macro-determinants of union membership change in Korea when we synthesize these hypotheses. As an example, in a regression model including the years of 1980, 1987 and 1988 as dummy variables, the coefficient of inflation rate and the change rate of industry employee ratio are respectively 0.447 and 0.464, and both of them are statistically significant at 0.1% significant level. This means that business cycle and structure shift are also very important variables.

 Thirdly, we analyse the residuals of the regression model in order to inquire out the other variables(political, institutional and behavioral factors) under the control of business cycle and structure shift variables. As a result, we can see that 'the nature of state power and the change of its labor policy' are working as the important variables. This means the democratization of state power in Korea is an important variable, while the governing power of left-party is an influential variable in the industrialized countries of Europe. And also this means that both of labor law and government repression against trade union movement in Korea are important variables, while only labor law is an influential variable in the industrialized countries of Europe.

 Forthly, with the above conclusions we can explain why union membership change are much different at each period. As an example, it was due to business cycle, structure shift and labor law that the increase rate of union membership was higher in Park Jung-hee military regime than in Chun Doo-whan military regime. In the period of Park Jung-hee regime, the inflation rate was higher than in any other period and the industry employee ratio surged. Also labor law was not so bad. But in the period of Chun Doo-whan regime, the inflation rate and industry employee ratio were lower than those of 1970s, the government repression against union movement was fiercest, and labor law had the worst rules and articles. The highest union growth rate from 1987 to 1989 resulted from not only the factors of politics and workers behavior, but also those of business cycle and structure shift. The consecutive trend of union density decline in 1990s usually resulted from the transformation of industry structure and the government repression against trade union movement.

 Fifthly, union growth in 1999 resulted from the increasing industry employee ratio and the legalization of teachers' union. For a long time, however both of industry employee ratio and inflation rate are declining. Accordingly, the matter whether union growth will continue hinges on ⑴ organizing service sector(small/medium-sized enterprise, female workers, irregular workers) and ⑵ attaining the appropriate institutions(freedom of association for public servants, the organizational transformation from enterprise-level union system into industrial-level union system, centralization of collective bargaining structure, unions' engagement in the management of unemployment insurance and the horizontal/vertical integration of trade union organizations).

 Ⅳ. The Shopsteward Education System in Industrial Union

<Research Objective>

 The trade union movement in Korea has been seeking to transform its organizational form from enterprise-level union system into industrial-level union system. Thus, it has few experiences of union activity and organizational operation based on industrial union system.

One of the most important tasks in establishing industrial-level union system is 'how to maintain the dynamism at workplace-level'. To resolve this matter depends on building up educational capacity of trade union movement to establish a new form of workplace-level activity, and to strengthen shopsteward's ability.

This research project was intended to survey the actual condition of the union practices at workplace-level and education activity, to study educational experiences of overseas trade union movement, and finally to design a model of education system based on industrial-level for shopsteward

In this project, we implemented questionnaire surveys from 386 shopsteward at enterprise-level unions and interviewed leadership in six unions which we regarded as a dynamic union. And then we examined the examples of shopsteward education in domestic and overseas labor movement. Finally, we suggested a model of shopsteward training system to activate union activity at workplace-level and establish an educational system in Korean labor movement.

 <Shopsteward Activity and Their Need>

 A. Activity Situation

 ① The shopsteward's activity in plants surveyed for this project is very active and dynamic. We identified that they voluntarily ran for shopsteward election and are significantly independent from the management.

 ② More than 80% among surveyed shopstewards have maintained meetings with lay members, other shopstewards and full-time officers such as chairperson or general secretary at enterprise-level once more per month. Also They have actively participated in gatherings, training and daily activity run by their local unions.

 ③ They have focused on gathering membership's opinions, dealing grievances, improving disadvantages by the management. While 62.6% of them experienced workplace-level discussion, it is difficult to conclude that shopstewards stand on stable basis. In order to transform workplace-level discussion into the actual means to realize trade union democracy, the various institutional arrangements should be established.

 B. Evaluation on Shopsteward Activity

 ① While 59.7% of shopstewards rate their activity positively, 40.3% are not satisfied with their activity. The most difficult things are 'lack of professionalism and capacity' and 'lack of time and money', which can be identified the internal factors. For this reason, the following tasks should be urgently completed: expansion of educational opportunity, development of various training programs and security of education time for shopstewards in collective agreement.

 ② The sphere of shopstewards' involvement in union activity is split into both sides of enterprise-level and industrial-level. The survey says that while shopstewards are more actively involved in enterprise-level activity, they are less involved in industrial-level activity. This situation results from the current enterprise-level union system in Korea. But, it may play a negative role of the obstacle to organizational transformation of our trade union movement into industrial union. In short-term, the range of solidarity activity at industrial-level should be expanded from full-time officers at enterprise-level toward shopstewards.

 ③ The survey shows that the role and task of shopsteward in the existing industrial unions are not much different from those in the enterprise-level unions. This means that the trade union movement should develop an organizational system to meet the features of industrial union in both terms of form and contents, and that it should re-design the role and function of shopsteward on the basis of industrial union.

 C. Evaluation on Shopsteward Education Activity

 ① The survey shows that education and training for the development of shopsteward's capacity are severely deficient. The shopstewards more than 50% were educated just one theme concerning 'roles and tasks of shopstewards'. Also, the survey identified that in many cases, the shopsteward education has been organized as a kind of 'event' just once a year. As a result, the level of shopstewards' satisfaction in education and training by union is low.

 ② The main reasons of shopstewards' dissatisfaction in education and training are the following as well as lack of education opportunity: practical uselessness(26.6%), stereotyped education methodology based on lecture(23.4%), dissatisfaction in contents and themes(21.8%). In order to step up shopsteward education system, trade unions should substantially transform the existing educational practices and invest more resources in shopsteward education.  

 ③ The poor education service by industrial-level umbrella organization(so called 'industrial federation') has resulted in the low level of shopstewards' satisfaction. In the prospect of organizational transformation into industrial-level union system, trade union movement should concentrate and systemize the current educational resources which are scattered at enterprise-level.

 D. Shopstewards' need for education

 ① The main education contents required by shopstewards are union's practical business, theory on trade union movement and cultural studies. So far, trade union movement has focused on movement theory rather than unions' practical business. The survey suggested that education contents such as operating meeting, organizing discussion, speech, communication, organizational development(OD) should be more concentrated and focused than ever.

 ② According to the survey result, 87% of the surveyed shopstewards agreed that a person expected to be a shopsteward should finish a certain level of education process. And 75.5% of them were fully willing to participate in shopsteward education program. This means that the actual problem to be resolved is not the subjective condition, but the objective condition such as security of paid education leave for shopstewards, increase of education finance, development of step-by-step training program.   

 ③ Now, both national centers, FKTU and KCTU have affiliates based on industrial-level union system in financial, medical, transportation, education and press sectors. Furthermore, most affiliates under both national centers are seeking to transform their organizational forms into industrial union. However, the operational system and organizational practices well-matched to industrial union even in those unions are not sufficiently developed. This situation has obstructed the construction of shopstewards education system based on industrial-level which will enable trade union movement to centralize financial and human resources.

 <Union Education Examples in Korea>

 We analyzed education examples in terms of plant, regional and industrial level. Concerning plant-level, Wonpoong union and Hyunday Motor union were selected. The Wonpoong union has been historically regarded as a representative 'Minjunojo(democratic union)' in 1970s. Concerning regional-level, we chose the case of 'Workers School' run by Korea Health & Medical Union(KHMU)'s Seoul branch for ten years. At industrial-level we selected the 'organizers/educators training course in Chemical Industry' run by Korean Federation of Chemical Trade Unions(KFCU). Additionally, we examined the case of Christian Academy, a progressive civic group in 1970s. We treated these cases in spheres of education objective, education contents, education methodology.

 A. Education Objective

 The education objective is a kind of guideline to design training program and evaluate education results. In case of KFCU, it concretely set long-term, short-term and measurable objectives. KFCU's setting objective led to increase an educational accountability of educators, organizers and leading officials and strengthened its organizational capacity. The main task of shopsteward is the organizational activation. In this point, activated workplace and expansion of shopstewards committee at workplace should be the concrete objective of union education.

 B. Education Contents

 The main education contents in the examples described above were the philosophy of working class, the history of labor movement, the pending tasks of trade union movement, activist's attitude, etc. Most of which were related to the systematic understanding of socal issues. In the mean while, KFCU's case can be characterized as the development of capacity of union business affairs.

The education contents can be different from others in terms of level of educational experience and organizational ability. Also, just one or two training courses can't meet all kind of educational and organizational requirements. For this reason, trade union movement should concentrate on systemization of education activity at level of industrial organization, which enable us to develop an effective training program and design an stable education system.

 C. Education Methodology

 The educators in the training programs and education activity described above utilized the various participatory methodology-group discussion, joint task-resolving, writing manual, making education materials etc.- which are different from traditional lecture-centered education.  

 <Shopsteward Education system in Industrial Union>

 A. Systemization of Shopsteward Activity at Workplace

 To concretize the role and task of shopsteward is a starting point to establish an education system for them. Currently, some unionists are emphasizing the shopsteward's role to check union officers rather than to activate union activity at workplace. But we are sure that first of all, shopstewards should focus on union's daily business at workplace such as grievances, consultation with employer and link between lay members and trade union organization.

 B. Education Policy of Industrial Union

 To systemize education system at industrial-level, trade union should establish an education committee consisting of officers and activists concerned. The committee should deal with educational policy including long-term objective.

 C. A Proposal for Shopstewards Education system

 We designed an education system with three stages. The first step consists of Basic Course 1 and 2. Second one does Intermediary Course 1 and 2. Third one does professional and specialized course.  

 ① The first stage is a course for shopstewards at enterprise-level. And its objective is to train workplace-level activists. Its long-term objective is to activate union activity at workplace, to step up shopstewards' capacity for union practical affairs.   

 ② The second stage is a course for shopstewards who finished the first step and full-time officers at enterprise-level. And its objective is to train regional-level activists. Its long-term objective is to activate union activity at regions, to step up full-time officers' capacity for regional business affairs.   

 << First Stage >>