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A Study on the Factors Influencing the Organizing of Automobile Sales Workers

Hwang, Hyun-il 1

1창원대학교 사회과학연구소

Excellent Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the factors influencing the organization of automobile sales workers using the concepts and analytical framework of social movement theory. Generally, auto sales workers have been perceived as difficult subjects to organize into trade unions because of their strong individualistic tendencies and their vulnerability in power relations vis-a-vis employers owing to fragmentation across small workplaces. However, from 2017-2018, in the wake of the candlelight vigil movement, three auto sales workers' locals were established in the Korean Metal Workers’ Union. This study analyzes how auto sales workers could successfully organize into unions within the given environment of opportunity/threat and grievance-causing conditions by using the concept of “union capacity”, a concept meant to capture the ability of workers themselves to effectively mobilize power resources to achieve their aims. Comparative case analysis revealed two significant findings. First, in all three locals, organic relations coordinating with upper-level union bodies played an important role in the union organizing process, suggesting advantages to a national, industry-based union system for capacity-building rather than an enterprise-level union system. Second, there were differences in the organizational patterns and outcomes of the three locals, which stem from company-specific characteristics. Fragmented employment relations and employers' union-avoidance responses slowed the organizing process but made the local more militant whereas direct employment relations and employers' moderate responses made the organizing process both consultative and rapid. The implications that can be derived from this are that the prospects for union organization in Korea depend on the development of national, industry-based unions in substance as well as form, and hinges on the union's capacity to effectively utilize limited resources to counter employer responses.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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