Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

Working hours for employees of large conglomerates, publicly-owned companies, finance, and insurance companies will implement a government mandated five-day workweek system. The shortened workweek will affect some 1.8 million employees at 8,408 big companies this year. Experts say the new system is expected to help improve the quality of life of workers. The five-day workweek system, one of the demands of labor unions for the last decade, is already bringing a change to the lifestyle of working people. Leisure and travel firms are seeing growing profits, while amusement parks and family recreation places are filled with people on weekends. Chosun Ilbo reports that the retail, service and education industries are determined to use the five-day workweek system as a chance to increase their profits. Hyundai Department Store decided to provide free jazz dance, aromatherapy and wine classes. Educational academies are expecting their profits will increase more because the i...

According to multiple Korean news sources about 87,000 unionists, including autoworkers of Hyundai and Kia, metal workers, and textile employees staged strikes on Tuesday. Chosun Ilbo, the nation's largest paper noted the strikes by Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KTCU) "kicked off their annual union strikes." I find it interesting that the striking workers were not only demanding wage hikes and better working conditions, but also protesting the government plan to send 3,000 more soldiers to Iraq. Korean authorities said the strikes designed to oppose the troop dispatch plan are illegal, vowing to take stern action against unionists who go on strike to call for the scrapping of the plan. KCTU chairman Lee Soo-ho said. ``We'll make the government retract the plan through anti-war demonstrations. We oppose the troop dispatch as we fear someone will become a victim like South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il'' Following a partial walkout on Friday a...

Hyundai Motor's Union to Launch Full-Day Strike ULSAN, South Korea, June 28 (Yonhap) -- Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest carmaker, said on Monday that they are preparing to launch a full-day strike this week to demand increased wages and improved working conditions. The strike, to start on Tuesday, will also call for increased bonuses and better deals for non-regular workers, it said. Insights... The ability for workers to strike in Korea was suppressed during the Park regime of the 1960s and 1970s. With the rise of democracy in South Korea, worker rights, long curbed, now require manufacturers to consider worker demands. For example, unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. crippled operations in 2003 at the nation's largest car maker with a month long strike. The workers stopped striking after management agreed to wage hikes and a shorter workweek. The company saw a $1 billion production loss with the partial strike that began on...

Welcome to the first blog of Bridging Culture's daily commentary of Korean-American business culture, intercultural communications issues, and events that impact business in Korea and the United States. I look forward to your comments and feedback.