付け加える.
投稿者： pyeongyang_kim 投稿日時： 2004/08/02 05:07 投稿番号： [2012 / 9237]
一応韓国の生産性に対する理解と最近の労使紛争に対する問題点をよく読めるインタビュー内容を一緒に積みます.
Nick Reilly, chief executive of South Korea's GM Daewoo, could have been forgiven for cursing his workforce yesterday, as a strike brought the US-owned company to a halt.
Instead, he praised the qualities of Korean workers and said Asia's fourth largest economy remained a good place to do business.
Mr Reilly, the former chairman of Vauxhall, GM's UK subsidiary, said Korean car workers were more highly-skilled and worked longer hours than their British counterparts. Labour relations in South Korea were not as bad as portrayed in the media, he added.
"We've had extremely good relations with our unions," he said. "We went through last year without any industrial action and I'm optimistic that we will lose very little time this year."
Mr Reilly's upbeat comments are significant because GM, the US car giant, is one of the biggest foreign investors in South Korea, having bought bankrupt Daewoo Motor for $400m two years ago and pledged to invest a further $1bn over the next two years.
Poor labour relations are widely considered one of the biggest threats to South Korea's economy, as growing numbers of manufacturers shift production to China to escape frequent strikes and rising wages. However, while acknowledging that labour strife and wage inflation were problems, Mr Reilly said the positives of investing in South Korea outweighed the negatives.
"There is a high skill level, a tremendous work ethic, and things get done very quickly," he said. "Korea produces more engineers each year than anywhere in the west."
About 27 per cent of South Korean undergraduates are pursuing engineering-related degrees, compared with 10.5 per cent in the UK and 6 per cent in the US, according to Mr Reilly. "There is a good chance that Korea can stay ahead of China because its technological skills will take some catching," he said.
South Korea has become an important part of GM's Asian strategy, both as a big domestic market and a manufacturing base from which to export. GM Daewoo cars have been introduced to 140 countries since exports started last year.
Mr Reilly, who encountered fierce labour disputes at Vauxhall, said South Korea's turbulent industrial relations were a natural part of the country's economic development. "The US, the UK and Europe have all been through this in the past," he said.
The government could help create an environment for better industrial relations but it was mainly the responsibility of labour and management to overcome their differences, said Mr Reilly.
He called for the introduction of multi-year pay agreements to remove the disruption caused by annual negotiations. "Korea is the only place I know that still has annual deals. Unions in other countries have welcomed the stability that comes from multi-year agreements. Here, no sooner have you agreed a deal you have to start thinking about the next one."
GM Daewoo workers were granted a 15 per cent pay rise last year and their union is seeking another double-digit increase this year, despite productivity having increased by just 6 per cent and inflation hovering around 3 per cent.
Mr Reilly said last year's increase was justified because pay had fallen behind rival carmakers since Daewoo's bankruptcy in 1999. But he warned workers against expecting wages to continue climbing at the same rate.
Having made a $150m loss in its first full year of operation, GM Daewoo was gradually heading towards profitability, said Mr Reilly. But the company was relying on fast-growing exports to compensate for weak domestic demand - an equation that would be unbalanced by increased labour costs. GM results, Americas page
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373897132&p=1012571727313
Nick Reilly, chief executive of South Korea's GM Daewoo, could have been forgiven for cursing his workforce yesterday, as a strike brought the US-owned company to a halt.
Instead, he praised the qualities of Korean workers and said Asia's fourth largest economy remained a good place to do business.
Mr Reilly, the former chairman of Vauxhall, GM's UK subsidiary, said Korean car workers were more highly-skilled and worked longer hours than their British counterparts. Labour relations in South Korea were not as bad as portrayed in the media, he added.
"We've had extremely good relations with our unions," he said. "We went through last year without any industrial action and I'm optimistic that we will lose very little time this year."
Mr Reilly's upbeat comments are significant because GM, the US car giant, is one of the biggest foreign investors in South Korea, having bought bankrupt Daewoo Motor for $400m two years ago and pledged to invest a further $1bn over the next two years.
Poor labour relations are widely considered one of the biggest threats to South Korea's economy, as growing numbers of manufacturers shift production to China to escape frequent strikes and rising wages. However, while acknowledging that labour strife and wage inflation were problems, Mr Reilly said the positives of investing in South Korea outweighed the negatives.
"There is a high skill level, a tremendous work ethic, and things get done very quickly," he said. "Korea produces more engineers each year than anywhere in the west."
About 27 per cent of South Korean undergraduates are pursuing engineering-related degrees, compared with 10.5 per cent in the UK and 6 per cent in the US, according to Mr Reilly. "There is a good chance that Korea can stay ahead of China because its technological skills will take some catching," he said.
South Korea has become an important part of GM's Asian strategy, both as a big domestic market and a manufacturing base from which to export. GM Daewoo cars have been introduced to 140 countries since exports started last year.
Mr Reilly, who encountered fierce labour disputes at Vauxhall, said South Korea's turbulent industrial relations were a natural part of the country's economic development. "The US, the UK and Europe have all been through this in the past," he said.
The government could help create an environment for better industrial relations but it was mainly the responsibility of labour and management to overcome their differences, said Mr Reilly.
He called for the introduction of multi-year pay agreements to remove the disruption caused by annual negotiations. "Korea is the only place I know that still has annual deals. Unions in other countries have welcomed the stability that comes from multi-year agreements. Here, no sooner have you agreed a deal you have to start thinking about the next one."
GM Daewoo workers were granted a 15 per cent pay rise last year and their union is seeking another double-digit increase this year, despite productivity having increased by just 6 per cent and inflation hovering around 3 per cent.
Mr Reilly said last year's increase was justified because pay had fallen behind rival carmakers since Daewoo's bankruptcy in 1999. But he warned workers against expecting wages to continue climbing at the same rate.
Having made a $150m loss in its first full year of operation, GM Daewoo was gradually heading towards profitability, said Mr Reilly. But the company was relying on fast-growing exports to compensate for weak domestic demand - an equation that would be unbalanced by increased labour costs. GM results, Americas page
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373897132&p=1012571727313
これは メッセージ 2011 (pyeongyang_kim さん)への返信です．