노동통제하의 사용자단체 역할과 서비스: 경영자총협회의 생존과 성장, 1970-1987으로 -

This paper examines the roles and services of the Korea Employers' Federation(KEF) between 1970 and 1987 when the authoritarian governments kept tight control over labour either directly or through their support of employer despotism. Despite these overall external circumstances favourable to employers, the chaebols maintained their adhesion to their association and fostered its Secretariat as their agent. This was apparent when they needed to respond to spontaneous labour activism. Through identifying contemporary as well as future external challenges, the KEF developed its own legislative agenda to translate these wishes into fact. The association’s main interests were to legislatively enforce an enterprise union system (Trade Union Act), avoid unwanted change to the state’s mechanisms for industrial relations dispute resolution (Labour Dispute Adjustment Act) and to maximise workers’ contributions to productivity improvements (Labour Management Councils). In contrast to the Park government, no sooner was his 1980 coup successful than Chun’s government accepted most KEF suggestions. The KEF successfully delivered what the chaebols had wanted, helped them strengthen their labour market control and covered both their and Chun’s repression of labour activism. In addition, one of the main purposes of the KEF’s formation had been to provide firms with information and expertise on labour market questions. The KEF carried out research and surveys relating to wages, labour law and other labour market trends. In light of the findings of this paper, it appears that employer associations are able to consider selective goods key functions for members in a situation where their activities for collective goods are not strongly demanding in the labour market.