Good morning, fellow Koreans,

Last year, the Korean economy posted the greatest growth among OECD member countries. There are also many businesses that reaped record high performances. But working class people have yet to come out of a deep economic winter.

Amidst mounting worries over jobs and consumer prices, a recent corruption scandal involving a mutual savings bank has deeply angered low-income families and given them an added sense of deprivation. It is truly heartbreaking, and I am deeply concerned. As I promised earlier, I will sternly deal with those who are found to be responsible, no matter how high their positions may be.

In the meantime, I learned the regrettable news that workers who are known to earn 70 million won a year staged an illegal strike. There are still many irregular workers who are getting paid less than 20 million won a year on average. Nevertheless, workers who are getting paid more than triple that amount went on a strike.

The news of that strike this time especially unnerved the public because it is not simply affecting the company in question but has far-reaching implications across the entire industry. Any attempt to rock an entire industry by staging a strike in one company will never be tolerated by the people. 

The same case happened last year in Valeo Electrical System Korea located in Gyeongju. The average annual wage for employees also exceeded 70 million won, and the company was in the red. As chronic strikes continued, the foreign mother company investing here decided to close down the factories and withdraw from Korea.

Fortunately, right before the shutdown, the labor union made a dramatic turnaround and opted for a path toward win-win solutions. The result was astounding. The company’s sales last year jumped as much as 36 percent from the average of the previous three years. It also escaped from two consecutive years of deficits and registered a net profit of nearly 40 billion won, the largest surplus since the founding of the company.

The union leader said, “After the labor-management dispute, the value of mutually supportive labor-management relations really hit home for me. I will take the lead in helping the company secure its growth engines.” The company, too, committed itself to creating more job openings by increasing investment.

Though conditions look similar, the fate of these two companies was quite different, and the examples of these cases give us many eye-opening lessons. The importance of cooperation and mutual benefits has been belatedly recognized only after such steps as staging a strike, closing down the business and ending up with a disastrous situation. I hope this kind of vicious circle will not be repeated any more.

According to the world competitiveness yearbook by the International Institute for Management Development of Switzerland, Korea ranked 53rd among 59 countries in labor-management competitiveness. We are now living in an era of a global economy in the 21st century where we should fiercely compete on the international stage.

It is true that the labor-management issue in Korea has always been singled out as one of the elements that scare away foreign investors. But it is also true that our labor-management relations have progressed toward the path of mutual benefits as attested to by the fact that labor and management have sometimes worked together to resolve their disputes without conflicts or strikes. This is a very desirable situation.

If labor-management relations pursuing mutual benefits take firm root, it would improve productivity and help revitalize investments by domestic businesses, even if labor costs remain somewhat high. Korea stands 23rd among 31 OECD nations in terms of labor productivity per person employed. The findings of a specialized institution show that a 10 percent increase in productivity in local businesses would allow them to maintain a competitive edge in spite of a 45 percent rise in oil prices.

As you all may remember, Ssangyong Motor suffered a strike some time ago. Before the strike, it took 106 hours for the automaker to produce a vehicle. After labor-management relations were stabilized, however, the production time was reduced to 38 hours. It is truly amazing that the company’s productivity has almost tripled.

When it comes to industrial relations, the Government goal remains unchanged: to pursue improvement in the quality of life of workers along with corporate growth. It is necessary to create more decent jobs to ease the difficulties facing irregular workers—new job opportunities have to be created. We have to establish a win-win economic structure where collaboration between labor and management leads to an increase in productivity, which, in turn, encourages increased investments that create more jobs.

To this end, the Government will make sure that laws and principles will be impartially applied to labor and management while respecting their autonomy as much as possible. In addition, the Government will sternly deal with unlawful strikes by labor unions as well as unjust business practices that infringe on the rights and interests of workers.

After Ssangyong Motor suffered the critical strike in 2009, both management and the labor union changed course and redoubled efforts to implement a labor-management win-win project. CEO Park Young-tae said, “At the very beginning, both labor and management felt awkward as they had to sit face to face. As they talked and listened to each other with open minds in the course of declaring their visions, climbing a mountain and holding workshops, however, they came to trust each other.”

The outcome of such endeavors was truly impressive. Employees had the feeling that they were respected, which proved the fact that mental incentives are as important as financial incentives. MIT professor Thomas A. Kochan, a world-renowned expert in industrial relations, emphasized that labor and management have to join forces for the creation of new jobs and job security down the road.

My fellow citizens,

This year the global economy still remains unstable due to hikes in oil prices and the financial crisis in Europe. Notwithstanding, I have strong confidence in the potential of Koreans.

In order to sail through huge waves, everyone on a boat has to remain steadfast where they are. The Republic of Korea is now cruising through rough waves of global economic uncertainties. At this juncture, we all have to maintain calm and do our best.

Let us all join forces to ensure that labor, management and the Government can make concerted efforts with one mind to help a win-win economic structure take firm root this year.

Thank you very much.