[Editorial] Labor Policy that Depends on Hard-Line Measures

The government has intervened in the strike at Asiana, and unionized pilots have to refrain from strike action for 30 days. Labor Minister Kim Dae Hwan expresses his "regret" over the matter, but the move cannot be ignored so easily.

Government strike intervention has long been called a "severe prescription" for limiting the "basic labor rights" guaranteed in the constitution. This is the first time in 13 years that the Labor Ministry has invoked its authority to intervene. It says it is the importance of safety in the air travel industry that made its choice unavoidable. It must be remembered, however, that safety was the biggest reason why the pilots' union went on strike in the first place. The decisive event that led to the strike was when Asiana wrote off the union's claims that pilot fatigue could lead to safety problems. The company is accused of being passive about the negotiations during the strike, placing faith in the government's hard-line stance. Negotiations fell apart even after the government's decision to intervene, at which point the union yielded on most of its demands.

Labor policy that is such a failure that it requires an "extreme prescription" is causing doubt about it as a whole, because the Labor Ministry has chosen an easy hard-line approach instead of demonstrating that it is trying to mediate for the sake of a labor-management agreement. Uri Party member of the National Assembly Lee Mok Hee has long protected minister Kim, but he claims the government should have tried earlier to mediate and criticizes Asiana for failing to show good faith in the negotiation process.

It is shortsighted to think the Labor Ministry made the right decision just because pilots have decided to return to work and because the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (Minju Nochong, KCTU) has not gone on a solidarity strike. The determination of KCTU and also the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (Han'guk Nochong, FKTU) to engage in struggle against the Participatory Government has increasing as a result of government intervention. You can already see how the move is going to lead to more labor-business conflicts that are harder to resolve. The primary responsibility for that clearly lies with the government.

The Hankyoreh, 12 August 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]