Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 01:20:47 +1000
Subject: AUT: korea


some stuff on the recent strikes in korea - if you haven't already seen
it.  

does anyone know of any interesting analyses of korean unions?

angela


Thousands of riot police attack Korean workers
By Mike Head
4 September 1998

Acting directly at the behest of Korean and international investors, the
Kim Dae Jung government in South Korea yesterday sent in more than
10,000 riot police to smash a 17-day strike. Police attacked hundreds of
workers and their families occupying six factories of the country's
largest auto parts maker, Mando Machinery, at 6 am.
Helicopters sprayed workers and their wives and children with tear gas,
while armoured personnel carriers crashed through their metal and human
barricades. Riot police armed with gas canisters, water canons and heavy
equipment were shown on national television beating and kicking workers.
Strikers and their supporters were forced to lie flat on the ground
before being hauled away for interrogation. At least 1,600 workers were
detained.
The Mando workers had been sitting in the six factories since August 17,
fighting the company's plans to terminate 1,090 workers out of a total
of 4,500. Riot police also stormed a workers' occupation at Halla
Electronics, owned by Mando's parent company the Halla Group.
Mando supplies auto parts to domestic car makers and also international
giants such as GM and Ford. It posted a turnover of 1.4 trillion won
last year, but went bankrupt in December in the wake of the country's
currency and share market crash.
In a bid to restore Mando's profitability, the management and the unions
agreed in February to pressure workers into accepting the loss of 400
jobs via voluntary retirements. Office workers' salaries were also
reduced by 5 percent. Yet within months the management ripped up this
agreement, driven on by the slumping local car market. The company's
sales fell 32 percent in the first six months of the year, compared to
last year.
Management took advantage of new labour laws to announce its
retrenchments. Mass sackings are now legal, and workers are prohibited
from calling strikes to fight against them, under the revised laws,
which were passed earlier this year after the Korean Confederation of
Trade Unions called off general strike action.
Yesterday's violent operation is the first time that the government
headed by Kim, a former pro-democracy dissident, has used the country's
para-military police forces to attack workers en masse and break a
strike. The regime had come under intense criticism from financial
markets and media editorials for retreating from using the same methods
against striking Hyundai workers last month.
The police raids were also calculated to intimidate Hyundai workers, who
voted a day earlier to reject the agreement that their union had struck
with Hyundai to end a protracted occupation against mass sackings. A
Labour Ministry spokesman said the Mando operation could be taken as a
warning to the Hyundai workers not to resume their struggle.
The KCFTU has threatened to call a national stoppage over the Mando
raids. It is also considering pulling out of a tripartite committee of
unions, big business and the government that is helping to implement the
economic restructuring demanded by the International Monetary Fund.
Such threats have been made repeatedly this year, only to be abandoned.
In fact, the KCFTU and its affiliated Hyundai unions opened the way for
the Mando attack by selling out the Hyundai struggle last month. The
KCFTU called off general strike action to back the month-long Hyundai
occupation at Ulsan, isolated the Hyundai workers, and then agreed to
the forced destruction of nearly 1,500 jobs.
The Mando assault is a sharp indicator of the new conditions confronting
workers in Asia and worldwide amid the financial collapses shaking
global capitalism. The response of the trade unions in seeking to stifle
the outraged and determined fight of workers is equally a demonstration
that the working class needs new organisations that are not committed to
upholding the national economies and meeting the profit requirements of
the capitalist market.

South Korean Hyundai workers rebuff union leaders, vote massively
against job-cutting pact
By Shannon Jones
3 September 1998

By a decisive margin South Korean Hyundai workers rejected an agreement
negotiated by leaders of the Korean Metal Workers Federation that would
sanction mass layoffs by the country's largest auto company. The vote to
reject the pact was 17,123 to 9,360, a nearly two-to-one majority. In
the wake of the vote there were calls by militant workers for the
resignation of the union leadership and the resumption of the month-long
strike.
The agreement marked the first time a major South Korean union had
agreed to layoffs. Since the passage of legislation last February
permitting layoffs numerous strikes have erupted in opposition to job
cutting. South Korea agreed to the elimination of the policy of lifetime
employment as part of a package of austerity measures demanded by the
International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $58 billion financial
bailout.
The unions have agreed to cooperate with the Dae-jung government in
implementing the IMF terms. Since the beginning of the year the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions and the metal workers union have already
helped Hyundai eliminate 5,336 jobs through so-called voluntary layoff
or retrenchment. Since February the KCTF has aborted three general
strikes called to protest government austerity measures and arrests of
union officials.
Like its counterparts in other countries, the trade union bureaucracy in
South Korea declares that workers have no alternative but to sacrifice
in the name of corporate profits. This perspective is driving the
bureaucracy into increasing conflict with the working class, which is
determined to defend its jobs and living standards.
The vote rejecting the Hyundai pact, announced September 2, evoked
immediate outrage from corporate management. "There is no room for
further negotiation on the pact. We believe [it] is final," declared a
spokesman for the company.
At a press conference Yoo Jong-keun, an advisor to President Kim
Dae-jung, insisted the rejection vote had no legal standing. "The union
rank and file does not have the right to reject it. I think it's just
more of venting their frustrations. It will pass," he said.
The agreement followed a month-long occupation by workers of Hyundai's
Ulsan plant. The union leadership called off the occupation and accepted
virtually all of management's demands, including the immediate
termination of 277 workers, while another 1,261 were forced to take
18-month unpaid leaves.
When 26,000 Hyundai workers struck July 20 the Korean Metal Workers
union asserted that it would never accept layoffs. Militant workers took
over the Ulsan plant in defiance of Kim Dae-jung, who declared their
strike illegal. The government mobilized 15,000 riot police--with
helicopters, bulldozers, water cannon and tear gas--in an attempt to
evict the strikers. After an initial attempt to clear the plant was
beaten back by workers, the government turned to negotiations.
On August 25 the leadership of the Korean Metal Workers ended the
occupation. It announced that it had accepted a proposal sanctioning
unprecedented job cuts at Hyundai. The agreement, called a "industrial
harmony and non-dispute contract," called for increased worker
productivity. At a joint press conference the president of Hyundai and
the president of the Hyundai union predicted a "new era" of
labor-management relations.
Workers reacted angrily to the pact. About 200 marched on the Hyundai
Motors main building, where union officials and management were meeting,
shouting "dismissals must be recalled."
The attempt to impose job cuts at Hyundai is seen as a major test for
the Dae-jung government and South Korean business. Hyundai has been a
focal point of worker militancy and has seen repeated strikes and
clashes with police and troops.

Thousands strike in Korea despite arrests
By Mike Head
16 July 1998

Thousands of workers marched through Seoul and more than 100,000 struck
across South Korea on Wednesday on the second day of a national strike
against mass layoffs and rising unemployment.
Determined to crush resistance to its privatisation and restructuring
program, the government of President Kim Dae Jung declared the strike
illegal and obtained court warrants for the arrest of four dozen union
officials, including Dan Byung-ho, president of the Korean Metal Workers
Federation.
Several hundred riot police surrounded the metal union's offices and
police agents raided union officials' homes in the Masan-Changwon
region, a metal industry centre. At least one union president, Kang
Jung-man of the Han-il Danjo Workers Union, was reported captured by
police.
Other officials took refuge in Seoul's Myongdong Roman Catholic church,
a traditional safe haven for dissidents under previous military-backed
dictatorships. About 10,000 striking workers and supporters, including
students, rallied outside the church watched by riot police.
Kim Dae Jung, once a jailed opponent of the previous regimes, has
adopted their methods. Among the union officials subjected to the
government's manhunt are Kim Kwang-shik, head of the Hyundai Motor
union, and two of his colleagues. Hyundai car workers have been on
indefinite strike since Tuesday to fight plans to axe 5,000 jobs at the
end of the month.
The two days of wider walkouts, primarily involving workers in the large
vehicle plants, steelworks, shipyards and metal plants, as well as
public sector and finance industry workers, followed a 12-day strike by
subway employees in Pusan and protest rallies on Sunday joined by more
than 100,000 marchers.
There is mounting unrest over the jobless toll, now estimated by the
unions to have reached four million, with 100 companies said to be
shutting their doors every day. These estimates far exceed those of the
government, but even it states that unemployment has more than doubled
since December, taking the total to 1.5 million, or 7 percent. The
social crisis is expected to worsen in coming weeks as major companies
such as Hyundai begin mass sackings.
Last week the government announced it was selling all or part of its
stakes in 11 firms, including Pohang Iron and Steel Co (POSCO), the
world's second-largest steelmaker, Korea Telecom, Korea Tobacco, Korea
Electric Power and Korea Heavy Industries and Construction. Tens of
thousands more jobs will be eliminated as a result.
Industries hit by this week's strikes included Daewoo car plants and
shipyards. Members of both major union federations took part -- the once
banned Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the former
government-controlled Federation of Korean Trade Unions.
However, two major unions called off planned strikes at the last minute.
The Korean Federation of Banks and Financial Unions, with a membership
of 100,000, pulled out after late-night meetings of union leaders and
talks with the government.
This is despite the fact that thousands of bank workers have already
lost their jobs under the government's scheme to force five ailing banks
to merge with stronger institutions. The scheme allows the takeover
banks to acquire profitable assets and bear no responsibility for
employees.
Backed by a mass media witchhunt, Kim Dae Jung has personally attacked
the bank workers for hampering the takeover process by not showing up
for work, changing computer passwords and withdrawing their severance
pay just before the banks closed on June 29. Prosecutors have threatened
to arrest workers for obstructing business.
The labour union of the state-run Korea Telecom, affiliated with the
FKTU, also decided not to strike at the 11th hour. Nevertheless, about
one-fifth of the union's members walked off their jobs.
Many other industries were unaffected by the strike, despite it being
called a general strike by the unions. The only perspective offered by
the unions was one of appealing to Kim's administration to consult with
the union leaders in implementing closures, retrenchments and
privatisations.
"We had an agreement with the government to set up measures to prevent
illegitimate and reckless layoffs," KCTU president Lee Kap-Yong said.
"But the government went ahead with the unilateral corporate and banking
sector restructuring, so we have no choice but to launch this general
strike."
By "reckless" the union leaders mean retrenchments which threaten to
spark unrest that the unions cannot contain. They do not oppose the
destruction of jobs. "We have never opposed the restructuring itself and
agree restructuring is necessary to make our economy healthier," Metal
Workers Federation deputy secretary general Sim Sang-jeung said. "But
the government should discuss with labour in advance."
On the eve of the strikes, Kim Dae Jung bluntly reminded the union
bureaucrats that they had in fact agreed to mass layoffs. "Permission
for corporate layoffs was a national agreement which had been made by
the first labour-management-government committee," he said. He was
referring to the unions' acceptance of amendments to the labour laws in
February to permit large-scale dismissals and end the "lifetime
employment" system.
This agreement has paved the way for the wholesale layoffs now underway.
At the same time, the regime headed by Kim, supported by the unions as a
supposedly democratic alternative, has proven to be no less repressive
than its military-backed predecessors when it comes to outlawing strikes
and threatening trade unionists.
Kim Dae Jung's privatisation and job-cutting program is one of the key
stipulations of the International Monetary Fund bailout package last
December. The unions have not opposed the package but urged the
government to renegotiate it in order to prevent a social explosion.

Korean unions accept Hyundai job cuts
Angry workers denounce agreement
By Richard Phillips
28 August 1998

Union officials representing 26,000 Hyundai Motor workers called off the
month-long strike and occupation of the company's Ulsan plant last
Monday, agreeing to the destruction of hundreds of jobs.
After four days of round-the-clock talks with Hyundai and the Kim
Dae-jung government, the unions endorsed the immediate dismissal of 277
workers. Another 1,261 will be forced to take unpaid leave for 18
months.
In sum, the unions accepted the loss of all the jobs Hyundai management
wanted to axe--over 1,530.
A six-month retraining program for those laid-off provides no guarantee
of reemployment.
The confrontation at the Ulsan plant was widely regarded as a test case
for the government and major corporations. On the one hand, Hyundai, the
largest South Korean conglomerate, was determined to impose mass
sackings under the government's new provisions ending lifetime
employment. On the other hand, Hyundai was the centre of union militancy
and stronghold of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) during
the 1980s and 90s, with numerous strikes and pitched battles between
workers and troops.
Over the last eight months the KCTU and Hyundai unions have already
assisted the company to destroy over 8,500 jobs via so-called voluntary
redundancies. The unions have also negotiated wage cuts, extended unpaid
vacations and increased working hours.
Now they have agreed to draw up a two-year "industrial harmony and
non-dispute" contract which includes new, but as yet undisclosed,
productivity demands as well as a commitment to restore production lost
during the one-month strike. They have also declared they will not
defend workers facing prosecution for action deemed to be "outside the
union's control."
Hundreds of workers and their families occupying the plant angrily
denounced the deal. Some burnt union flags or tore up their union vests
in protest. As news was released about the deal 200 workers shouting
"dismissals must be recalled", converged in protest on Hyundai Motors
main building where union leaders were meeting with management and
government officials.
Letters from angry workers appeared on Internet discussion groups
denouncing the union and calling on the leadership to resign. One
typical comment declared: "Hyundai workers' struggle is not only for
themselves, but for all workers in Korea!"
The agreement was negotiated only days after workers, armed with lead
pipes and other hand-held weapons, resisted attempts by hundreds of
heavily armed riot police to evict them from the plant on August 18.
President Kim Dae-jung, elected last year with union support, mobilised
15,000 police, accompanied by helicopters, tear gas, water cannon and
bulldozers, but then pulled back, preferring to seek a deal with the
union leaders.
Meanwhile, the city of Ulsan, just over 200 kilometres southeast of
Seoul, was put under siege by the police and sealed off to prevent the
entry of supporters of the striking autoworkers. The government also
deployed riot police against striking workers at the Taekwang, Hanyoung
and Kooryo companies in Incheon.
After the initial clash at Ulsan, the KCTU leadership called a press
conference, appealing to the government to join the union in brokering a
new agreement with Hyundai. The union warned of an "irrevocable
catastrophe, not only for the relations between labor, employers and the
government, but also for the whole of Korean society" if the government
attempted to use troops to break the strike.
The KCTU threatened to call nation-wide strike action and withdraw from
the tripartite job-cutting agreement established under the International
Monetary Fund's $58 billion economic restructuring plan. If, however,
the government helped negotiate an agreement, the KCTU would maintain
its "commitment to be an active force in the comprehensive reform of the
Korean society and in the national effort to overcome the crisis..."
In announcing their deal at a joint press conference, both the Hyundai
Company and union presidents apologised for the prolonged dispute and
declared the agreement could herald a "new era" in labour-management
relations.
Two days later, another trade union federation, the Federation of Korean
Trade Unions, estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 workers will be
dismissed throughout South Korea in September and October. Some 150,000
bank and insurance workers will lose their jobs when 12 banks and 5
insurance companies are forced to drastically restructure or shut down.
Mass job losses are also expected at Kia Motors, Samsung, Daewoo, LG and
SK.
Unemployment has already trebled this year, reaching 7 percent even on
the official figures. This puts in doubt the government's hope to
contain the jobless total to around 1.5 million this year.
The international financial markets are demanding even more ruthless job
cuts. Steve Martin from Jardine Flemings Securities described the
Hyundai settlement as a "total farce" for not eliminating more jobs
immediately. He declared that the government would face further
difficulties attracting global capital. "It's very bad for Hyundai, for
corporate restructuring and for South Korea's ability to get overseas
finance," he said.

Hyundai workers sacked in South Korea
By Peter Symonds
1 August 1998

South Korea's largest auto company, Hyundai Motor Co, yesterday fired
more than 1,500 workers in the southern industrial city of Ulsan despite
continuing strikes and protests against the mass retrenchments.
The company notified the country's Labour Ministry in late June of its
intention to lay off 2,678 workers to "tide over its managerial
difficulty". Over 1,000 workers accepted Hyundai's so-called voluntary
retirement package -- the remainder were sacked when they refused the
offer by July 31. A further 900 workers have been asked to take two
years unpaid leave.
The layoffs are the first by a major conglomerate or chaebol under South
Korea's labour laws which were amended in February with the agreement of
the two major trade union federations to effectively end the country's
system of life-long employment.
A wave of mass sackings is expected by other chaebols. Daewoo Motor has
already notified the labour union of its intention to lay off 2,995
workers. Two other Hyundai subsidiaries -- Hyundai Motor Service and
Hyundai Precision & Industry -- as well as the giant Samsung Electronics
are reported to be considering similar plans.
Hyundai Motor, which employs more than 46,000 workers, has been regarded
as a centre of union militancy and one of the strongholds of the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
Thousands of workers continued to occupy Hyundai Motor plants yesterday
vowing to fight the layoff decision. The company attempted to re-open
its assembly operations last Tuesday after a week-long closure but was
forced to announce a further delay until August 9 as a result of
continuing opposition. Striking workers have established makeshift
protest camps on the factory premises since July 20.
About 2,800 riot police have surrounded the factories and prevented
attempts by students from the outlawed "Hanchongyon," or coalition of
university student councils, to join the protesting workers. A labour
union spokesman also rejected the offer of support by students, saying
the union did not want "violence".
Over the last month, Hyundai workers have taken repeated strike actions
against the planned sackings. Rallies and protests have been held both
in Ulsan and in the capital of Seoul. On Thursday, the day before the
company deadline, an estimated 5,000 Hyundai workers held a protest
rally in a park in Ulsan.
The company has attempted to justify its position by pointing to the
downturn in the auto market. According to company officials, Hyundai's
six assembly plants with a yearly production capacity of 1.65 million
vehicles are operating at only 40 percent capacity. The response of the
labour union has been to call on the company to cut wages and implement
job sharing programs rather than destroying jobs.
The National Statistical Office this week announced a year-on-year drop
in industrial output of 13.3 percent for June, the steepest ever monthly
decline. The largest falls were in automobile production -- 45.1 percent
-- and in heavy equipment manufacture -- 35.4 percent. The official
unemployment rate has already tripled since the beginning of the year,
and is certain to go much higher as other major companies follow the
lead given by Hyundai.
Both the KCTU and the more conservative Federation of Korean Trade
Unions (FKTU) have organised limited protests over the continuing wave
of retrenchments throughout the country. Last week the union bodies
called off national strike action over layoffs and on Monday indicated
that they would rejoin official tripartite negotiations with government
and big business officials. Coming only days before the Hyundai layoffs
were due to take place, the unions' actions could only strengthen the
hand of the company and weaken the opposition of workers.


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