Employment policy, employment insurance scheme and trade union participation
Hyun-ji Kwon (Research associate of FKTU Research Center), This study is designed
to seek ways to revitalize trade union participation in employment
policy and employment insurance system. This paper is composed of
five chapters. First, Chapter I examines
the importance and methods of trade union participation in employment
policy and employment insurance scheme. Trade union participation
in employment policy and employment insurance scheme is not only
essential from the perspective of its general significance of participation
in social policy which brings about expansion and development of
democracy and promotion of workers' rights and interests, but also
important to induce implementation of the policy at the level of
social solidarity and employment welfare and to strengthen union
organization. Also, in consideration of the current situation where
employment insurance fund is donated entirely by labor and management
while the government is paying only a partial sum of the management
and operation costs, it is only natural that workers who are main
donors to the fund should take part in the management and operation
of the employment insurance. It can be identified as a workers'
right vested in them. In pursuing a participation strategy concerning
employment policy and employment insurance, trade unions are required
to pursue and stick to the principle of participation defined as
follows: ¨ç autonomy, ¨è practical participation, ¨é democratic
procedures, ¨ê strategic participation, ¨ë reasonable participation,
and ¨ì thorough preparation. '(Organized) Power and (pre-arranged)
policy' are the two cartwheels leading to influential participation.
To prepare for the effective participation on the part of trade
unions, they should fervently call for a legal and institutional
mechanism which, in denial of cosmetic participation, enables them
to practically participate in employment policy and employment insurance
scheme. In addition, internally, unions should do their utmost to
secure expertise and democracy. Chapter 2 compares the
labor market policies and unemployment insurance systems amongst
the OECD member states. First of all, the primary interest is placed
on the existence of institutionalized independent tripartite organization
for decision-making as a first-hand mechanism to secure trade union
participation. Taking a step forward, this study pays attention
to disparities in the degree of realization of participation among
the member states compared. This study finds several key determining
factors bringing about the differences in the degree of participation:
the degree of realization of corporatist politics, union density,
union concentration, and the empowerment of pro-labor parties which
make it possible to address union demands to the arena of political
discussion. The result based upon the analysis is that union influence
on labor market and its function (the success rate of labor market
policy and operation) is more active in countries with more firmly
rooted corporatism. Galvanization of union politics based upon organization
and institutionalized empowerment of various social forces is one
of the major pre-requisites that contribute to revamping trade union
participation and enhancing the efficiency and equity of the labor
market policy, along with the securing of the space for participation
by way of an institutionalized mechanism. Chapter 3 looks into
the cases of Japan, Germany and Sweden which show some typical characteristics
of the decision-making on employment policy and the management and
operation of employment insurance scheme. In the case of Japan,
weak union participation is manifest in the decision-making process
related to the employment policy and the management and operation
of the employment insurance. The employment policy and the employment
insurance scheme are decided on, enforced and operated solely by
the government, and the unions are confined to acquiring related
information and laying their views through advisory boards. In the
case of Germany, labor, management and the government co-decide
on and co-operate the labor market policy and employment insurance
affairs through the Federal Employment Office (Bundesanstalt für
Arbeit). The Federal Employment Office, composed of the same number
of representatives from labor, management and the government respectively,
is an organization in public law which manages the unemployment
benefits and takes charge of affairs pertaining to the labor market
policy such as job consulting and placement, vocational counselling,
and the distribution of job-creating projects. In Sweden, unions
take full charge of the management and payment of unemployment benefits,
and it is called the "Ghent system". The Swedish experience
suggests that unions' direct participation in the unemployment insurance
affairs, even partially, will not only contribute to an effective
and equal operation of the unemployment insurance but also exert
a great influence on the organizational growth of the trade union
movement. Chapter 4 discusses
the current situation and characteristics of trade union participation
in Korea's employment policy and employment insurance system. Here
in this chapter, the channels of union influence on the employment
policy and the employment insurance system are divided into institutionalized
channel, quasi-institutionalized channel and informal channel. This
chapter also analyzes and evaluates the content and limitations
of union influence exercised through each channel to the matters
such as the structural problem, recent mass unemployment and the
improvements in the employment insurance system. The institutionalized
channel, through which unions participate in policy-making regarding
employment policy and the employment insurance system, comprises
in such a way that workers' representatives are included in various
related committees. Looking at the composition of the committees,
except for some committees, many of them are dominated by government
bureaucrats with the presence of one or two workers' representatives.
Due to this cosmetic participation, labor has failed to form an
influential majority on policy-making. On top of this, for a greater
number of the committees mentioned above are of a deliberative nature,
there are few ways for unions to link the resolved matters to actual
policies, revealing difficulties in practical participation in the
policy decision process on the part of labor. Chapter 5 suggests a
few measures to increase union participation in employment policy
and employment insurance system. First, as for measures to enhance
union participation in the policy-making process, proposed are two
specific measures: mid- to long-term and short-term measures. The
mid- to long-term measure says that the three players - labor, management
and the government - should set up an organization in which they
co-decide on and co-operate for matters concerning employment policy
and employment insurance affairs. The short-term measure suggests
that the already existing deliberation for form's sake should be
developed into a practical deliberation through establishment and
reenforcement of deliberative committees related to employment policy
and employment insurance. As for union participation in policy execution
organizations, this paper presents three ways that are thought to
be feasible: ¨ç Unions watch
and supervise concretely the execution of policies by way of
taking part in the affairs of monitoring organization; For practical participation, it is essential for union movement to exert stepped-up efforts to secure internal expertise and democracy. To this end, an experts group to be in charge of specialized policy research should be cultivated and arrayed within the framework of union movement, and democratic principle should be firmly established on participation such as decision-making, methods, appraisals, information disclosure, and the selection of representatives. In addition, for influential participation, active efforts are required to convert the current enterprise-based unions to an industrial union system. |