Employers` group chief seeks `grand compromise` with unions . FEBRUARY 28, 2013 06:21. . The chairman of the Korea Employers’ Federation on Wednesday said his organization is discussing forming cooperative labor-management relations and "a grand compromise" with the Korea Federation of Trade Unions.

If the grand compromise is concluded, it will be the first such agreement since 2009.

Lee Hee-beom made the statements at his federation’s regular general assembly and the ceremony for the Korea Labor-Management Cooperation Awards at the Westin Chosun Hotel in central Seoul. "To overcome the global economic crisis, labor and management will form a grand compromise and take the lead in the effort to get over the employment crisis," he said.

Moon Jin-gook, head of the labor federation, also told The Dong-A Ilbo, “We agreed in principle that labor and management will make concerted efforts to tackle many pending issues, including revision of the Labor Union Act and employment stability.” Moon said this soon after a regular meeting of his federation’s representatives at the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations building in southern Seoul.

The employers’ federation and the umbrella union has formed a grand comprise on four occasions in 1994, 1998, 2004 and 2009, with two reached as a result of economic crises. The two sides will likely discuss forming a grand compromise, especially on employment security and refraining from wage hikes.

The labor community, including the Korea Federation of Trade Unions, wants the withdrawal of the time-off system, which bans payment of salary from company coffers to full-time union leaders, through revision of the Labor Union and Labor Relations Coordination Act (Labor Union Act). Labor also wants unions and management of individual companies to determine whether to unify management’s negotiation channels with multiple unions.

Pro-business organizations, including the employers’ federation, however, have rejected the proposed revision to the Labor Union Act, saying it could cause more confusion at individual companies.

Many obstacles remain for the two sides to reach agreement, but chairmen Lee and Moon held talks two to three times before the inauguration of the new administration. Analysts say President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the two organizations Wednesday and Thursday last week just before her inauguration might be also related to such a move.

A source at the labor federation said, “Various issues, including employment and wages, could be discussed at working-level meetings,” but added, “It`s premature to perceive it as grand compromise, since the efforts only mean that both sides have agreed to resolve problems through dialogue.”