hankyoreh

his grave expression reflective of the union’s current leadership crisis. All of the umbrella union’s leaders stepped down that day

After its leaders resigned en masse Monday over a sexual assault scandal involving one of its senior officials, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, Minju Nochong) is at an important crossroads. The scandal chips away at the umbrella labor union’s moral center, and could have an adverse effect on its influence in labor-politics and labor-management relations.

The KCTU had been facing criticism for allegedly trying to convince a woman to keep quiet after she was the victim of an attempted sexual assault by a senior KCTU member. The woman had provided KCTU Chairman Lee Seok-haeng with safe hiding while he was on the run from government authorities in January of 2009. After Lee was arrested, the senior KCTU member attempted to rape her.

For now, the future of the KCTU is in limbo. At a meeting of its central executive committee Monday, the KCTU decided to form an interim committe to run the organization and will hold a by-election in April to select a new chairperson. Under the KCTU’s by-laws, a new chairperson must be chosen within two months after the post becomes vacant. A by-election must be held when a chairperson resigns with more than six months in his or her tenure. Because Lee’s tenure was scheduled to last until the end of the year, a by-election must be held to replace him.

The KCTU’s central executive committee will meet again today to discuss the details of the interim committee and the April election. Kim Jong-su, the head of the KCTU’s Gangwon division who chaired the central executive committee meeting on Monday, said, “We received recommendations for six people who are the leaders of industrial leagues and three people who are the leaders of regional divisions of the KCTU.” Kim added that the leader of the interim committee will be chosen from among them.

Now that the entire leadership has resigned, the KCTU appears to feel a need to get the interim committee in place quickly so that it can get its affairs in order.

This is the fourth time since the union began in 1995 that its leadership has resigned. In 2002, its leaders stepped down over protests against a strike deal reached by the unionized workers of several power-generation firms. In 2005, the leadership resigned over a bribery case involving the organization’s deputy chairman.

Prior to the resignation of its leadership, the umbrella union had been gearing up to confront issues such as the proposed revision of the Irregular Worker Protection Law and rising unemployment. There are growing concerns whether the KCTU will be able to handle sensitive issues such as these if the organization continues to go without a leader, creating confusion.

In the wake of growing calls from KCTU insiders for internal reform following the sexual assault scandal, it is possible that the organization will intensify its struggle against the government. The leaders who stepped down, including the outgoing chairman, were part of the union’s “people” faction and are relatively dovish in their approach. This means that the union’s more hawkish members, who belong either to the union’s “workplace” faction or its “central” faction, could step forward to take control of the KCTU.

Meanwhile, the KCTU plans to launch a fact-finding investigation into suspicions that some of its members dealt a “second blow” to the organization by leaking the details of the sexual assault case to the press and the alleged cover up attempt. The investigation was proposed by KCTU Vice Chairperson Jin Young-ok, who presented her request to the interim committee after tendering her resignation.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]