Contribution in establishing labor-management-civil-government partnership and establishing a culture of cooperation
[December 24, 2008]
Professor Hyo-soo Lee of Yeungnam Univeristy (57, School of Economics and Finance, 13th Yeungnam University president-elect) was awarded the 'Iron Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit' for his contribution to establishing labor-management-civil-government partnership and establishing a culture of cooperation.
The Ministry of Labor held the '2008 Labor Win-Win Cooperation Awards' at the Seoul Education Culture Building on the 24th. In these awards, Professor Lee was awarded the 'Iron Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit', which is rarely awarded to people in the academic sector. The Ministry of Labor said that he was awarded for not only playing a leading role for developing and pursuing theories and policies on local labor-management-civil-government partnerships, but also showing the outstanding leadership skills to actively participate in global arenas such as OECD, IIRA and Global HR Forum to contribute the establishment of a local partnership.
Professor Lee is famous for developing theories on the labor market, employment relations and HR development, which is rare for an East Asian. He developed three theories over a time span of 20 years, including the 'Segmented Labor Market Theory' in 1983, the 'PDR System Theory in 1995' and 'RESAP (Regional Economic and Social Advancement Partnership) in 2003. Thus, he achieved considerable results in the labor-management field. The RESAP model was published by the OECD in February 2008 and became a focal point of attention internationally. He has also written 20 books and published over 100 papers.
In addition, he has also actively attempted to integrate the labor-relation theories in the actual world. As part of this, he worked as the director of the Korea Labor Economic Association, Korea Industrial Relations Association, the chair of the 13th IIRA World Council, and committee member of the 'The Presidential Committee on Job Strategy'. He is currently an executive director of IIRA Asia, committee member of the Presidential National Economic Advisory Council for the president, committee member of the Minimum Wage Council consigned by the President, president of Daegu-Gyeongbuk Job Creation and Human Resource Development, and the chairman of Daegu-Gyeongbuk Employment Council. Last October he developed the '10 Major Agenda for Executing Knowledge Economy of Daegu-Gyeongbuk' and initiated a proclamation ceremony and co-signing by 15 top leaders in labor, management, civil and government sectors, including the mayor of Daegu and governor of Gyeongbuk in order to contribute greatly to form a local partnership. The 10 major agenda is a new paradigm for developing human resources and creating jobs. This is a system based on the industrial-academic-private-public partnership for the local residents and by the local residents that could develop human resources led by the region and create jobs. It is assessed to have presented a local governance initiative. Furthermore, while working as a committee member of the Minimum Wage Council since 2006, he played a decisive role to find a point of agreement for minimum wage rates for 2 continuous years through active talks and persuasion for the establishment of a compromising culture among labor, management, civil and government sectors. Due to these efforts, he also won the individual labor-management harmony award in the 'New Labor Management Culture Awards' by the Ministry of Labor in December 2004.
The 'Labor Win-Win Cooperation Awards' is an awarding system enacted for the first time this year by the Ministry of Labor, and it presents 99 awards including 16 medals and citations to five sectors such as outstanding local governments, local contributors, as well as company, labor and management representatives. Daegu was awarded a presidential citation and an award of 300 million won together with Jeollanam-do as the best local government organs that pursued development of local labor-management relations and creating jobs.
