A Comparative Study on Unionism and Strategies of Labor Unions in Germany and Korea
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Kim Seong Kook 
Published: June 2018

In this paper, the German and Korean trade unions are investigated on their history, unionism and strategies. Through an international comparative study between the two countries, the author attempts to draw applicable implications from German-style unionism unique labor relations for Korean unions and their leaders.
During the Weimar Republic, the German labor unions were divided along partisan lines, a situation that led to competition among the socialist, communist, Catholic, and liberal trade associations. After World War II, labor leaders wanted to break from the past, and to form a trade union federation independent of political parties. The result was the establishment of the Federation of German Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund—DGB) in 1949. Four principles guided the founders of the DGB. First, the labor movement wanted representation through an organization that was unitary and autonomous, with no ties to particular religions or political parties. Second, labor leaders decided to organize the unions along with industrial lines so that all workers at one firm would belong to the same union irrespective of their individual occupations. This organizing principle provides unions with greater bargaining power when negotiating with employer associations, because one union represents the entire workforce of an industry. Third, a decentralized system of interest representation was created. Individual unions typically emulate the federal structure, with local, district, state, and national offices. Each level has some input into the shape of union policy. Fourth, the unions chose to rely on legislation for the protection of workers' rights, rather than on direct negotiations with business representatives.
German Codetermination Act (Mitbestimmungsgesetz). The act implements the rule of parity (that is, equal representation of shareholders and employees on a supervisory board), especially for German stock corporations, German private limited liability companies and German limited liability partnerships with more than 2,000 employees.
The German Codetermination Act was originally highly disputed, but has become an accepted part of corporate Germany in past decades due to attempts to balance the interests of shareholders and employees. ‘Social partnership’ has played a major role to integrate German society, and to alleviate labor disputes after the World War II in Germany. German unionism characterized by codetermination and ‘social partnership’ between the labor and management can shed light on Korea’s future industrial relations.
Korea’s union participation rate of 10.2 percent is less than half of what it was in 1989. Among OECD countries, Korean workers’ unionization ranks near bottom. That does not mean that unions do not wield considerable power. Critics accuse union leaders of serving their own interests before those of their workers and undue participation in politics, and say the current setup harms Korea’s business competitiveness. To others, the unions are a necessary counterweight to the power of chaebol and to thank for gains in workers’ rights and working conditions―making the idea of curbing their power ridiculous if not sinister.
An important development in Korean unionism after 1987 was the emergence and rise of a movement independent of the officially recognized Federation of Korea Trade Unions. There were many attempts to organize a separate national center by union activists who did not follow FKTU policy lines although Korean law allowed only one national center until 1997. Non-recognized unions formed the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions and the KCTU was officially recognized by the government in 1999.