“Municipal Corporatism” and Worker Representation on Boards of Directors in Seoul City

While social dialogue at the national level was withering away, the Seoul Metropolitan Government forged a strong partnership with public sector workers, introducing the worker director system in 2016. Using in-depth interviews with trade union leaders, directors on the boards, and bureaucrats, and primary and secondary sources from trade unions and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, this article investigates the mechanisms and effects of local corporatism in Seoul City, with particular attention to the limits and dilemmas of worker board representation introduced at the local level without proper legislative support at the national level. The “Seoul Model” successfully produced many progressive labor policies, including the worker board representation. However, because of the defective corporate governance, fragmented bargaining structure, and unwanted interference from the national government, worker directors in Seoul City’s public institutions and companies had to face severe role conflicts. The Seoul Model was only partially successful, because it was heavily dependent on Seoul City as a benevolent employer, and it failed to expand the worker director system into the private sector. Municipal Corporatism without corporatist structures at the national level can lead to worker board participation, but its scope and durability might be limited without proper institutional prerogatives at the national level.