hankyoreh

Oct. 15.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) has decided to break policy solidarity with the Lee Administration and the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and launch a general strike this Dec. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has offered to hold a labor rally with the FKTU in Nov., and is signaling that the labor world will join together against the government’s ban on payment of wages to full-time unionists and imposition of the multiple union system.

The FKTU convened a meeting of representatives Thursday at the KEPCO auditorium in Samseong-dong, in Seoul’s Gangnam district and decided to issue a mandate to union leadership concerning the timing and method by which the union will break its labor policy solidarity with the Lee Administration and the GNP that was established in 2007 and launch a general strike. FKTU Chairman Jang Seok-chun, who shaved his head at the meeting, said if the Lee administration and ruling party push through with their plan to ban the payment of wages to full-time unionists and allow multiple labor unions in a single company, the union would launch a general strike and break labor policy solidarity with the Lee Administration and ruling GNP.

The FKTU plans to launch its strike in Dec., following a mass labor rally on Nov. 7 in Seoul. The union also decided to suspend participation in almost 70 government committees, including the National Labour Relations Commission. Jang said the FKTU has pursued participation and dialogue in place of launching a general strike, but that the Lee administration and the GNP have been making secret attempts to break the industrial unions. Jang also said a labor movement to vote against the GNP candidate in the next presidential election has become unavoidable. In the 2007 presidential election, the FKTU formed a policy alliance with and endorsed then-GNP candidate Lee Myung-bak.

The voices of representatives on the ground have grown louder, too. One representative said that when the public begins to say that the union is being mistreated and has been rendered so useless that the threat of breaking labor policy cooperation is no longer a weapon of labor, it is the responsibility of the union to launch a movement to vote against GNP candidates in next year’s regional elections. Representatives also demanded that GNP lawmakers who have formerly served as leaders of FKTU, such as Lawmaker Kang Sung-chun, leave the party if the Labor Ministry’s plan passes as is.

The article of the current Labor Law permitting multiple unions and banning wages to full-time unionists is to go into effect in 2010, and labor-management dialogue on the issue has been suspended. The administration has repeatedly said it plans to enforce the law without a grace period, but the FKTU has been strongly protesting this. The FKTU, an umbrella union with many small-and-medium-sized business unions as members, is concerned that it will take a major financial hit should the article go into effect as is.

The labor world, however, believes that the FKTU decision to break labor policy solidarity with the Lee Administration and GNP would not greatly hurt them. This is because the Lee Administration and ruling party have said they intend to push through with the law despite several warnings from the FKTU, and the union lacks the power to effectively counter the move. Observers suggest the labor world is hoping to increase its bargaining power if the two major umbrella unions cooperate.

The KCTU convened a central executive committee meeting Thursday to discuss plans to cooperate with the FKTU. A KCTU official said his union basically agrees with to the six-member talks framework proposed by the FKTU, and plans to demand that the prime minister directly step forward to decide an agenda for labor-management-government talks on issues such as unemployment. The leadership of the two umbrella unions intends to meet on Oct. 21 to decide on the level and direction of cooperation, including the general strike.

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