ΆΓ  Labor Management Programs to Be Offered to Foreign Firms

Korea Times 2001. 2. 6

Foreign-invested companies in Korea will be able to receive more support in solving labor-related disputes, as the Labor Ministry has announced various programs for facilitating smooth labor management in foreign firms.

Starting this year, labor inspectors will regularly visit foreign industrial complexes, where foreign-invested Korean companies are concentrated, to offer counseling on labor management and stabilizing labor relations, a ministry official said yesterday.

``We are in the process of surveying the number of foreign companies that wish to receive counseling,'' said Kim Hwan-gung, of the international negotiation division at the Labor Ministry.

In addition, labor policy sessions will be held four times a year to brief companies on Korean labor policies and Korean labor culture that are still unfamiliar to foreign firms.

The first session is scheduled for early April in Seoul, and will be followed by sessions in Honam, Yongnam and central regions every two to three months.

``The sessions will provide information on matters such as severance pay and union-related issues as well as government policies to support foreign companies,'' said the official.

In early March, the ministry will also present case studies of several foreign firms that have practiced successful labor management. About 150 foreign firm representatives from the management and labor divisions will be invited to attend. ``Labor-related disputes are one of the most serious problems that foreign firms are faced with in Korea,'' said Kim Jung-sik of the Labor Ministry.

``When industrial relations of foreign-invested firms remain unstable, foreign companies become reluctant to conduct business in Korea,'' he said.

There are some 1,500 foreign companies _ firms in which foreigners own shares of more than 50 percent _ currently operating in Korea.

Labor disputes have continued to surge in foreign-invested companies in recent years. A total of 31 labor strikes erupted at foreign companies last year, a jump compared to only nine in 1999.

Most of the disputes involved demands for wage hikes and enhancing working conditions, which workers started to voice after the nation recovered from the 1997 financial crisis.