Labour in developing countries: unions in Korea

Abstract

[Extract] For the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) the decade since 1987 has seen a process of democratisation within which a struggle for the legal recognition of an independent trade union movement and the reform of restrictive labour laws have been significant. The struggle has been as much between trade unionists and employers as between workers and the state due to the close relationship between the family business conglomerates, the chaebol, and successive governments. In the last days of 1996 the government's pro-employer labour laws, clandestinely passed through the legislature, provoked a general strike which then led to a partial government retreat on both the legislation and trade union recognition.