[Editorial] Country Clubs Merciless Towards Unions

Hearing about the high-handedness of golf courses in the provinces of Gyeonggi and North Jeolla that are in labor disputes makes you doubt your ears. At one place in Yeoju, 45 full-time unionists were suspended for putting on ribbons that says "Implement Transparent Management!" The Lakeside Country Club has prevented its union members and even government labor supervisory authorities from entering for three months, all while refusing to negotiate for a collective agreement. Caddies are not even legally recognized as laborers, and conditions for them are miserable. A course in Iksan was unsatisfied just firing someone for union activities; it even got a provisional seizure from a court on the assets of her husband, widowed mother, and father-in-law. It is as if you are looking at typical cases of labor suppression from the 70's and 80's.

Golf course unions are small and located in out-of-the-way places. Subsequently they are barely noticed. The Ministry of Labor and other government agencies quickly need to investigate these open abuses and file criminal complaints so as to make those involved bear responsibility. One does not want to believe the talk about how the authorities are not moving on enforcement and prosecution because of civil appeals issues such as course reservations.

Current law prohibits making unions or individual union members legally responsible for compensating their employer while legitimate negotiations and formally declared disputes are underway. It is unfortunate that courts still listen exclusively to employers when they allege that there has been "obstruction of business" and financial loss. It is essentially prohibiting union activities to make workers pay massive amounts in losses while they are already having a hard enough time dealing with being fired, and furthermore it cannot be good for long-term labor-management relations. The country also needs to include those not legally recognized as laborers - golf caddies, dump truck drivers, "workbook teachers" and others – within the scope of protections provided by law. Their numbers are close to 1 million in total, so it is lacking in a sense of shame to be talking about the future of labor-business relations when there are workers without the protection of the law as such.

The Hankyoreh, 24 January 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]