노사협의회 제도의 활성화 방안 ― 일부 무노조 사업장에서의 노사협의회 운용 사례를 바탕으로 ―

Companies where there is no trade union(herein after referred to as “Non-Union Company”) do not have workers’ representative institutions that try to improve and maintain working conditions such as wages. Therefore, in some “Non-Union Companies”, worker’s organizations in the form of workers’ members of the labor-management council(Most cases have “○○○ council” such as “workers’ council” and “labor’s council”. Hereinafter, the term “workers’ council” will be comprehensively used) have a consultation or make a decision on working conditions including wages with “employers’ members” of management side(They are mostly business owners or those in charge of business management, and they tend to be selected flexibly at each labor-management council, and furthermore, they sometimes write a written agreement with both sides’ signatures in(This study refers to a written agreement as “making a labor-management agreement”.). It has the form of labor-management council, but in actuality, it performs the similar function as collective bargaining of trade union. However, many of the management parts in this case faithfully fulfill the contents of the labor-management agreement. Before workers advance to trade union that has the right to strike, the management parts try to proceed with negotiations with workers’ council in the peaceful state and to maintain the relation of coexistence and cooperation between labor and management. This study suggests that in that Workers’ council, which has a form of workers’ members on the Workers’ Participation Act, plays a considerable part in maintaining and developing labor-management relationship, based on its favorable function and advantages, similarly with the above case, ①an organization(This will be referred to as worker’s committee. Worker’s committee consists of worker’s members directly elected by workers.) that performs similar functions to worker’s council should be adopted as a new legal organization, and ②when “worker’s representative members(three or more and ten or less, and the same number of employers’ members)” perform consultation and decision with employers’ members{in the revised Workers’ Participation Act, the consultation of “workers’ committee(worker’s representative members)-employers’ members” structure is referred to as “labor-management consultation”}, ③there should be legislation that the decided matters should be written and stored in the method worker’s representative members and employers’ members sign or seal on the resolution document(In the revised bill, this is referred to as “writing resolution document”). While the current Workers’ Participation Act limits the number of workers’ members to three to ten per each business or business site, the revised bill enables more workers’ members to be elected and allows them to organize “worker’s committee”, so workers feel confident and encouraged only by its existence, and the organization will be operated to maintain and improve workers’ working conditions and to protect and improve their rights. By doing this, workers can be granted a right to operate councils in companies where workers can carry through assertion and the assertion is well implemented only with the council system while workers organize trade union in companies where workers can’t carry through assertion without planning strike. In case workers’ committee(worker’s representative members) of the revised Workers’ Participation Act decides some matters with employer’s members, this study presents the methods of acknowledging enforcement effect of the decided matters. If the enforcement effect is acknowledged, labor-management can change the existing decided matters in the way of resolving again, and at the same time, workers’ committee can have stronger authority and status, so workers’ committee can process resolution at the same status as employer’s members. To acknowledge the enforcement effect on the decided matters, it is necessary to secure the fact that workers’ committee is a sincere representative body that tries to protect and improve working conditions of workers. In the process of electing members of workers’ committee, the election procedure should be organized, so that members with democratic legitimacy can elected who make efforts to prevent management’s interruption and intervention, to protect workers’ working conditions, to improve their rights and interests and to listen to the voice of work field. Therefore, this study also suggests a theory of legislation whose contents include the fair election by organizing each company's election commission and the strict punishment for management's interruption and intervention. Through this, workers’ committee is expected to function as a strong and democratic law system that holds the balance of power with management at any company regardless of whether it has trade union or not. The purpose of this study is to facilitate labor and management’s peaceful consultation through “workers’ committee(worker’s representative members)-employer’s members’ structure, to prevent and compensate problems caused when the theories on the existing law of contract are applied with acknowledgement of enforcement effect in case resolution was made, and to have employers focus and try harder on consultation with workers’ committee by improving the status and authority of workers’ committee. It is expected that labor and management can establish partnership in the cooperative relation rather than mutual oppositive relation, and that they will expand the opportunity of making future-oriented decisions with the spirit of coexistence and cooperation.