Traditionally, industrial relations systems are seen as composed of the interactions of a trio of actors and institutions: state/government (Rowley et al. 2011), workers/trade unions (Rowley and Yoo 2008; Rowley and Bae 2013) and management/firms. In their roles as employers, management and firms often organize themselves into trade/business or employers’ associations; the former deal with universal management issues, such as competition, customs duty and government lobbying, while the latter deal with labour problems (Rynhart 2004). These voluntary organizations are established to strengthen employers by representing their collective interests in the field of labour issues (Rynhart 2004; Behrens and Traxler 2004). In many countries employers’ organizations developed in response to collective threats from labour movements, and the enactment and amendment of pro-labour legislation, as in South Korea (Jun and Suh 2009). In South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea), the process of state-led industrialization entailed bureaucratic monopoly conglomerate nurturing with the chaebol1 and suppression of labour movements (Rowley and Yoo 2008; Rowley et al. 2011; Rowley and Bae 2013), and companies organized associations to build amicable, cooperative relationships with the government. The Federation of the Korean Industries (FKI) was established in 1962 as a business association for the purpose of member (mainly the chaebol) consultation on the economy and to stimulate international exchange. With government intervention in the economic issues of firms (Kim et al. 2007: 63), the Korea Employers Federation (KEF ) diverged from the FKI as an employers’ association in 1970 to represent employer interests and lay the foundations for cooperative industrial relations and the promotion of industrial peace following the 1968 cotton industry strike.2 The enterprise union system stood at the centre of Korean industrial relations until the early 1990s (Rowley and Yoo 2008). However, the advent of industrial unions3 brought a call for industry-wide bargaining on the employers’ side after 1998. Consequently, the metal, and health and medical care industries began to form employers’ associations to deal with the demands for industry-wide collective bargaining in 2007. However, due to negative perspectives of management on industrial unions, industrial bargaining did not take root, leading to industrial employers’ associations fulfilling a minimal role.