(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Feb. 16)

Sharing the pain

Corporations are increasingly combating unprecedented economic times through the
combined efforts of workers and management. Labor has conceded to pay cuts or
freezing salaries, while in return management has promised not to slash jobs.

Automotive parts maker Shinchang Electrics Ltd. has guaranteed jobs for every
employee after an agreement on lower salaries was reached. Shinchang employees
defied the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions??? advice to its umbrella unions
that they fight for job-sharing without pay cuts, and instead chose to accept
their employer???s terms. They were probably aware that confrontation and
self-interest do not make the best expedient during times of drastically reduced
sales in the global automobile industry and when the country is mired in economic
crisis.
According to the Labor Ministry, companies that agreed on peaceful labor terms
last year totaled 2,689, up nearly threefold from a year earlier. Also, the
number of companies opting for job-sharing as a means of minimizing job losses is
surging.
Joint efforts by management and labor forces in the face of the financial
emergency offers a silver lining on the economic outlook. Even though politicians
show no remorse or fail to show a desire to initiate a rescue effort, we see hope
as ???common people power??? blossoms from the industrial front.
Multinational companies in advanced industrial markets are speeding mass layoffs
to stay afloat. Chopping jobs can temporarily lighten management problems, but
cannot be deemed smart in the long run. A rise in unemployment can cut
consumption and because of poor sales, companies need to resort to layoffs that
will eat away at their competitive edge.
Therefore, companies opting for a win-win strategy to withstand the present
difficulties will be best equipped for a new global economic order after current
problems pass.
But in order for the budding labor-management relationship to bear fruit, it must
become sustainable. The government must lend its support so painstaking
corporate-labor union efforts can succeed. Speedy funding for banks and tax
benefits can be a much-needed boost. Politicians should stop bickering and map
out legal devices to support companies and their workforce.
Sharing jobs has long been a laudable legacy from our society???s agricultural
past. Helping out neighbors helped our country through a series of crises.
And remember, volunteers flooding from across the country helped put the blue
back into the waters of Taean in just a few months after the 2007 oil spill,
setting a record in the world???s environmental history.
This level of pain sharing may also help our country become the first to pull out
of the present global economic turmoil.
(END)