The nine-year-old conflict between SsangYong Motor and its labor union came to a dramatic end as the two sides agreed Friday on the reinstatement of the remaining 119 of the total 165 employees laid off in 2009 as a part of a restructuring program following the 2008 global financial debacle.
The agreement carries significance as a good lesson for similar labor-management disputes in that the Economic, Social and Labor Council composed of representatives from three parties ― the government, management and labor ― played a decisive role in resolving the long-pending problem as a social apparatus for "compromise."
The automaker filed for court receivership in 2009 amid the financial crisis and announced a restructuring plan to lay off about 2,600 workers. The union launched an all-or-nothing struggle against the plan, while the government mobilized police without mediating the dispute to find a negotiated solution. In the end, 1,700 workers were forced to retire early and 454 had to go on unpaid leave, while 165 were laid off.
So far, 30 dismissed workers have died during the nine-year-long struggle and a mourning altar was set up to commemorate them in front of Deoksu Palace in central Seoul. Now it is fortunate that the dispute has been settled, though so belatedly, through dialogue and compromise, after the conflict inflicted such an enormous social cost.
The SsangYong Motor incident has served as a typical labor dispute that this society has suffered repeatedly from, leaving many tasks related to labor-management relations to be tackled down the road. It is not easy to call to account either of the two sides for the aggravated situation.
There still exist numerous pending labor issues such as how to deal with side effects of the shortened 52-hour workweek and how to narrow the widening wage disparity between big and small businesses, to name a few. The three-party council, which is set to begin formal operations next month, successfully mediated the SsangYong row.
We hope the agreement between the carmaker and its union will be a good example of finding a solution to various social disputes through negotiation instead of extreme confrontation between all parties concerned.
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