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Labor trades massive strikes for management-approved leader
The labor union at textile-maker Kolon, previously one of the core unions under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), withdrew from the umbrella union on December 21, stoking public concern over the state of the nation’s labor movement This follows a similar withdrawal from the KCTU by Daelim Industrial Co. Due to one-sided reporting by much of the Korean media, a view that the "irresponsible, hard-line umbrella labor union has collapsed" is widely spreading. The facts in the case are as follows. Up to 95.4 percent of Kolon union members voted for their union’s withdrawal from the KCTU. In addition, other recent decisions by the Kolon labor union show a dramatic reversal from their attitude during a two-year dispute between labor and management there. Kolon unionists staged a 64-day strike in 2004. The labor-management conflict came to a head after Kolon’s management February last year cut 508 employees, or 30 percent of the workforce. Among those fired were 78 union members. The management at Kolon attempted to intervene in labor union elections in July last year, both indirectly and directly supporting management-friendly candidates.Kolon’s acts invited criticism from the national labor movement as a representative "immoral" company, as well as an investigation by the prosecution and the Daegu Regional Ministry of Labor. As a result of these probes, five executives of Kolon have been convicted. One executive received a comparatively harsh sentence of one year in prison for activities unfair to labor. However, over the course of this long struggle, Kolon’s union members have grown fatigued. Last year, in protest of the management’s decisions, they chose as their leader a member that had already been laid off. In contrast, at the elections in July this year, they selected a candidate supported by management. Regarding this, a union member said, "An uneasiness spread broadly among union members that they could be fired if they acted against the company or participated in the KCTU. Frankly speaking, the company wanted us to withdraw from the KCTU." Another member mentioned, "There is no hope that the KCTU and the labor union will [protect] us. As we need to watch out for our own survival, we just do what the company wants us to do," adding, that "the most difficult thing is that we can’t trust one other, and should be acting according to the situation rather than withdrawing from the KCTU." Kolon labor union leaders said, "Most of the union members think that the KCTU has done nothing for us. We will bring the workers practical benefits by spending the money we are obliged to pay the KCTU on the workers instead." Choi Il-bae, a Kolon union member leading a committee fighting against the company’s massive layoff plan, said, "It looks as if the company’s 1970s-style labor management, which uses financial [threats] and restructuring as its leverage, proved effective. The government’s consistently indifferent attitude was also responsible for this." Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
