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Looking beyond the West? The Korea Employers' Federation and the Challenges of Membership Adhesion and Cohesion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

In Jun  and
Peter Sheldon
Peter Sheldon
Affiliation:
School of Organisation and Management, University of New South Wales
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Abstract

The KEF developed its identity, role and activities in the face of challenges to employers quite different to those that marked the history of employer associations in western countries. Only in recent years have economic and political developments generated perceived threats from unions and pro-labour legislative proposals. Instead, the KEF had to find ways of attracting, holding and uniting members in the absence of these threats. The result was a very limited organisation operating at low levels. As those threats emerged more fully through Korea's democratisation process, the KEF responded to pressures to raise its profile, broaden its activities and sharpen its identity. In seeking to attract and retain members and to develop internal cohesion, macroeconomic and macro-political developments have been of crucial importance, as has the central role of large employers among the KEF membership.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , September 2006 , pp. 203 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2006

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