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National Initiatives which Identify of the Roles of the Government and the Social Partners in Promoting the Expansion and Diversification of Training - Republic of Korea
Source: Tripartite Commission
Tripartite Commission Agreement Concerning the Direction of Improvement in the Vocational Training System
Introduction to the Tripartite Commission
President Kim Dae Jung set up the Tripartite Commission on January 15, 1998 in order to overcome the national crisis arising from the foreign exchange and financial crisis and reached the first tripartite compromise on social agreement.
As the Act on Establishment and Operation of the Tripartite Commission was enacted and promulgated on May 1999, the tripartite consensus-building mechanism of Korea was institutionalized and the new labor-management relations paradigm is also pursuing a revolutionary change.
The nature of the Tripartite Commission is a social consensus-building institution grounded upon president Kim Dae Jung's national policies of the parallel development of democracy and market economy. Top representatives of labor, management and government assemble and resolve major labor issues democratically through dialogues, and this very aspect makes the Tripartite Commission an institution for a democratic cause in labor-management relations. Through this tripartite consensus-building mechanism, the People's Government has successfully carried out socially cohesive restructuring and, as a consequence, has revitalized the economy and renewed the momentum for social development.
The Third Tripartite Commission is mandated to exert the best effort to make solid fruits by reflecting the experiences of the First and the Second Tripartite Commissions. Above all, based on firm faith among labor, management and government, the crippled operation of the Commission should be avoided. To this end, the Third Commission should be operated on the basis of three principles - dialogues and negotiation, equality and balance, and faithful implementation of the agreements.
Agreement concerning the Direction of Improvement in the Vocational Training System
The Three Parties (Labor-Management-Government) hereby agree as follows, sharing the view that the quality of human resources is the key to securing national competitiveness as well as that of workers and businesses in this knowledge-based era. The following agreements are also designed to positively come to terms with changes in the structure of the labor market and invigorate development of workers’ job skills.
The Three Parties shall do their best to encourage participation by both Labor and Management in policy-making concerning development of job skills and the operation of related systems.
The Government shall positively study ways of realistically expanding and guaranteeing participation by both Labor and Management in various council and committee meetings for establishment and operation of the systems of state-administered standard job skill qualifications related to job skill development.
The Government shall look for ways of enhancing the efficiency of operation of systems including efforts made for stabilization of insurance finance for projects for job skill development, rationalization of the system for insurance premiums, and simplification of the procedures for collection of premiums.
The Three Parties shall share the recognition that “workers’ voluntary education and training” is a matter of importance and make efforts to prepare systematic measures of improvement in provision of support to, and reinvigoration of, such voluntary education and training.
Management shall do its effort to foster pertinent environment for workers’ voluntary education and training and increase investment in it, sincerely recognizing that such education and training will form the basis of the nation’s industrial competitiveness in the future.
The Government shall prepare methods of increasing the number of workers eligible for subsidies to help them with such opportunities of education and training.
The Three Parties shall look for ways to form a kind of “financial resources for workers’ voluntary education and training,” to alleviate their burden.
The Commission shall analyze the cases in foreign countries of forming such financial resources. Methods of their operation and selecting those eligible to receive such subsidies shall be decided on the basis of the result of relevant research.
July 31, 2001
The Tripartite Commission
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