Posted on : Sep.12,2006 20:38 KST Modified on : Sep.13,2006 21:35 KST

South Korea's progressive umbrella labor union on Tuesday threatened to stage a strike next month in protest against a government-led bill on improving labor-management relations.

"We will open a meeting of union representatives on Sept. 19 to decide on whether to strike in October," a spokesman for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the nation's two umbrella labor groups, told reporters.

After the news conference, five KCTU leaders visited the prime minister's office in downtown Seoul to deliver a protest letter demanding that Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo be dismissed, taking responsibility for the formulation of the bill.

The labor union, which has a membership of about 760,000 workers, will stage protest rallies in the capital on Thursday and Sunday to call for the scrapping of the labor bill, the spokesman said.


The threat came a day after representatives of the government, employers and laborers agreed on the bill amid strong opposition from the KCTU. During the tripartite discussions on the reform measures, the laborers were represented by another umbrella union, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU).

Under the bill, the three sides agreed to abolish the government's authority to force arbitration in labor strikes in fields directly linked to the national economy and public livelihood, and instead designate sectors where walkouts are prohibited and allow employers to hire alternative laborers in times of strikes, according to officials.

The system has been executed by the government and favored by employers as a means to force unionists to return to work even though disputes may not have been resolved.

But some key proposals on labor-management ties, including a pro-labor plan to allow multiple labor unions at the same company, were put on hold.

"The agreement on labor-management ties is the outcome of collusive links between the Labor Ministry, the Korea Employers Federation and the FKTU," a KCTU official told reporters. "The government must implement the plan to allow multiple labor unions next year as scheduled."

The KCTU will submit a substitute bill containing more progressive demands by laborers in cooperation with the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party, the official added.

Seoul, Sept. 12 (Yonhap News)



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