The strike by the Asiana Airlines' pilots union is now causing international flights to be canceled, hurting the image of the carrier and causing a loss in international confidence in the Korean economy. It is very frustrating to have a situation where international flights are canceled and there are snags in the shipping of some of the country's main exports. On top of that pilots at Korean air look like they are also going to strike.
The problem is that the situation is not going to be resolved by talking only about the loss of international confidence and what the strike will be doing to the economy. It actually makes things worse to have some in the ruling party talking about limiting the "three basic labor rights" in this case.
Korean society is accustomed to a "culture" where all the responsibility for a strike is placed with the union. In principle, however, responsibility for losses incurred by a strike lies with both workers and the management. The same goes with the strike at Asiana. It becomes entirely impossible to engage in dialogue when you assume striking workers are "aristocratic labor" for making "selfish demands" regarding their high wages. Pilots are wage-earning workers, too, and so the right to collective action is a basic right guaranteed by the constitution. The welfare-related demands they laid out at the start of negotiations have already been withdrawn. Right now the contentious issue is safe operations. The airline writes off the demands saying pilots are getting plenty enough rest, but what is important here is that the pilots themselves are complaining about fatigue.
It says a lot that the frequent plane crashes there used to be have disappeared since the establishment of pilots' unions. Safe flight is an issue of the lives of the people. If the airline obsesses with inciting negative public opinion about the union's actions and uses that to avoid having to negotiate in good faith, the responsibility for the loss in international confidence and the damage to the economy will be placed squarely with the airline. Instead of trying to get everything it wants in a single breath, the airline needs to demonstrate that it is prepared to do everything it is supposed to for safe operations. Now is a time when the situation is being watched to see who avoids or is less than good faith about negotiations.
The Hankyoreh, 20 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Hurry to Resolve Pilots Strike Through Dialogue |
