Lee asks labor unions to learn lesson from GM's failure

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Friday urged South Korean
labor unions to learn a lesson from the insolvency crisis at General Motors and
other major U.S. automakers, saying the ongoing economic crisis should be turned
into an opportunity to overhaul backward labor practices in South Korea.

While presiding over a meeting of a government commission on state
competitiveness, Lee also called for nationwide efforts to prepare for a new
global order after the ongoing economic crisis ebbs.
"General Motors' insolvency crisis has been triggered by the labor union's
excessive demands and the management's failure to turn them down. Even Japanese
automaker Toyota Motor, known for its perfect labor-management relations, has
been hit hard by the economic crisis," said Lee.
"The current economic circumstances are unimaginably serious. (South Korea's)
labor and management should take this economic crisis as an opportunity to
entirely reform their relations. I'm not referring to problems at individual
companies. The paradigm of the labor-management relations should be fundamentally
changed," the president said.
Lee asked meeting participants to pay greater attention to the nation's future
status and the role to be played by South Korea in the new global order.
"The duration of a crisis is clearly limited, though it may take one, two or
three years. We should focus our attention not only on overcoming the current
economic crisis, but only on preparing for post-crisis changes in the global
(economic) order," Lee said.
At the monthly meeting, Lee and his top policymakers held four hours of intensive
discussions on measures to boost the nation's tourism industry and accelerate
reform of public corporations.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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