The Roles and Tasks of Labor Unions for Workers' Vocational Education and Training 1
7. Conclusion
An employer shall undergo a resolution by the council when establishing a basic plan for education and training of workers. In that regard, trade unions should make best use of such provision. To ensure that enterprises can abide by the provision, trade unions should intervene in education and training in companies. If enterprises fail to obey the provision, they shall be subject to sanctions, including a criminal charge. In order for enterprises to comply with provisions of the Act, it is also imperative for the Korea Tripartite Commission to provide support. Moreover, for implementing a provision in which education and training under the resolution by the Labor-Management Council shall be provided with preferentially subsides, it is needed for trade unions to put pressure on the government to establish the enforcement decree.
A structural model was analyzed on the effects of trade unions on the direct/indirect route of vocational education and training and the level of skills using the date sources of Human Capital Corporate Panel. As a result, trade unions had a positive impact on the improvement of skills through employment security. However, trade unions had no significant effect on the development of skills through direct/indirect education and training. The findings indicating trade unions had no effect on education and training are similar to preceding researches.
In Korea, trade union density rate is low, and trade unions are based on enterprises. Trade unions pay little attention to vocational education and training. The effort to shift to industry-level trade unions are crucial because enterprises emphasizing industry-specific skills and employees underlining general skills can resolve their differences through industry-level bargaining. It is needed for the established industry-level trade unions to try to complete the contents and strengthen organizational activities by setting a bargaining agenda on education and training.
First of all, trade unions in Korea should participate in the assessment of vocational education and training project under employment insurance. Unions should be in charge of monitoring the implementation stage of the future project. Ultimately, they should be responsible for planning the project under employment insurance. Furthermore, it is necessary for trade unions to actively participate in a social forum for conversation or the committee for a consultation or an agreement at the governmental/regional level. Above all, trade unions participate in the Korea Tripartite Commission and raise their voices, and then they should acquire the actual authority to carry out the agreed contents. Additionally, they should be actively involved in the Industrial Human Resources Development Council and the Regional Human Resources Development Council, where they can actually exert their influence on the relevant vocational education and training.
Furthermore, it is necessary for trade unions to try to implement the agreements of the Korea Tripartite Commission, for an employer to abide by laws and regulations stipulated in the relevant vocational education and training Act, in which the employer shall undergo a resolution by the council when establishing a basic plan for education and training of workers. This could enable trade unions to participate in enterprise-sponsored vocational education and training project.
2) Policy suggestions
The government should be aware that trade unions fundamentally contribute to remedying government failures by unions’ participating in vocational education and training project, and that they can assume the role of a coordinator in the project. Accordingly, various measures are to be
taken to encourage trade unions to participate in the project.
First, it is necessary for the government to authorize employers’ association and trade unions to assess vocational education and training project under employment insurance. By doing this, employers and trade unions, which are the demanders of vocational education and training project, will be responsible for assessing the project, therefore figuring out problems associated with government-led training and coming up with the solutions. And both sides will pay more attention to the project. And then, the government should require both sides to participate in the stage of monitoring of project implementation and project planning. Ultimately, the government should encourage both parties to operate vocational education and training project under employment insurance.
It is necessary for the government to cooperate to implement the agreements with the Korea Tripartite Commission and authorize the Commission to force the implementation. Moreover, the government should supervise the agreement stipulated in laws and regulations of enterprises. An employer shall undergo a resolution by the council when establishing a basic plan for education and training of workers, and sanctions shall be imposed if he/she violates the rule. Temporary measures will include giving preferential treatment on the plan of education and training through the resolution by the council.
Furthermore, in order to prepare and carry out workers’ vocational education and training at the industry level, the government should support industrial organizations and come up with support measures for industry-level trade unions. It is imperative for the government to avoid confrontational attitudes toward trade unions and try to arrive at an agreement with the Korea Tripartite Commission. For efforts to maintain favorable labor-management relations, the first place to start will be the highly successful agenda of vocational education and training.
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