[asia-apec 367] KCTU Campaign News Feb 28, 1997

[daga]

       KOREAN CONFEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS
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              Struggle for Labour Law Reforms
                   Campaign News XXIV
                     February 28, 1997



                     The Bastard Law
                    to Come into Effect



The hope of re-writing the labour law rammed through the secretive 
session of the National Assembly late last year before it came into 
effect on March 1, 1997 was dashed today.  The rascal labour law is 
bound to come into effect on March 1 as scheduled due to a renegade 
on the promise by the ruling party and the government.

Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, today, the Chairperson of the 
National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment and Labour, 
announced the breakdown of the negotiations between the opposition 
members and the ruling party members at the drafting sub-committee.  
About an hour later, the floor leaders of the major political parties, in a

damage control measure, issued a statement of apology for the failure 
to meet the deadline and postponement of the final re-write to March 8, 
1997.

"I Don't Want to be on the Wrong Side of the Big Business"

The possibility of re-amendment was opened when President Kim 
Young Sam, bulkling under the pressure of a month-long strike and 
protest actions of working people, committed himself to accept a re-
start at the National Assembly.  However, since then, the government 
and the ruling party made all possible efforts to delay the re-write
efforts.  

The National Assembly was only re-opened on February 17, nearly 
one month after the initial commitment. The parliamentary process 
appeared to move ahead smoothly when the Standing Committee on 
Labour and Environment held public hearings on February 19 and 20.  
However, the ruling party and the government refused to present any 
proposals for change in the labour laws, claiming that their positions 
were clearly demonstrated in the December 26 amendment.  Instead, 
it called on the opposition parties to produce proposals they feel are 
needed.

On February 24, the opposition parties, in time for the first session 
of the drafting sub-committee, produced a unified proposal for re-
amendment.  It called for the withdrawal of the provisions for 'layoff' 
and adopted the basic positions presented by the 'public interest 
representatives' at the Presidential Commission on Industrial Relations 
Reform.  KCTU called on the opposition parties to "stop looking over 
their shoulders for the wishes of the big business" and to act in 
"conviction for a democratic reform of the repressive labour laws", 
especially for the recognition of the teachers' union.  It urged the 
minority coalition to be firm in their fight on behalf of the people
against 
the intransigent government and ruling party".

Despite the various efforts of the opposition parties, the ruling party 
and the government remained unmoved, continuing its obduracy and 
procrastination.  The ruling party "requested" for a postponement of 
the drafting sub-committee session.  This was repeated on the second 
and third days. The drafting sub-committee only began to deliberate 
over the proposals for re-amendment in the late February 27.

The ruling party representatives explained that they had not had the 
time to produce a position, they had not had a chance to consult with 
the government.  It was in response to such a show of irresponsibility 
on the part of the government and the ruling party, that the KCTU 
Central Committee, on February 25, decided to launch the 4th wave 
general strike from February 26th to culminate in full general strike on 
February 28.

The Government Breakdown

On February 27, the Minister of Labour, Mr Jin Nyeum, in a press 
conference, declared that he "wondered" whether the KCTU leaders -- 
who decided to launch the 4th wave general strike -- "were qualified to 
be citizens of a liberal democratic state".  The Kim Young Sam 
government as a whole proved itself totally insensitive to the 
importance of the labour law issue and the reasons for the month-long 
strike by hundreds of thousands of workers. The government and the 
ruling party are intent on winning the favour of the big business, trying 
to maintain the umbilical code   the direction of the flow of 'nutrients'
is 
now reversed   linked to the big business.

In response to the Kim Young Sam government's repeated 
renegade on the promise to reform the labour laws and the apparent 
breakdown, KCTU released a press statement entitled "The 
government and the ruling party are unqualified to run the country".  In 
this statement, the KCTU declared a campaign of civil (industrial) 
disobedience against the labour law that will come into effect on March 
1.  It also announced a plan to hold an emergency conference of all 
social and civic organisations to prepare a consolidated programme of 
action to overcome the current disarray brought about by the 
irresponsibility and incapacity of the government.  Furthermore, the 
KCTU leadership has instructed all union officials throughout the 
country to begin a sit-in protest from Monday March 3 in preparation for 
any possible action. 

The 4th Wave General Strike

On February 28, some 130,000 unionists resumed strike. Unions in 
private sectors began the half-day strike at 1 p.m. while those in the 
public utilities, such as hospitals and subway, held union general 
meetings within the workplaces as part of the strike programme.  At 3 
p.m. striking workers gathered at major cities for public protest rally.  
More than 100,000 workers   including more than 5,000 in the rain 
drenched Seoul   took to the streets to protest the governments 
inaction.

The strike, resumed after more than one month long calm, brought 
to surface the smouldering anger and revealed the depth of 
organisation on the level of the rank and file membership.  The 
successful resumption of the general strike   a daunting task due to the 
cooling off effect   has demonstrated the maturity and capacity of the 
KCTU to undertake purposeful struggle on the basis of a clear 
understanding of the issues in question.  This bodes well for the full 
relaunch of a massive scale struggle in the face of the intransigent 
government, ruling party, and the big business.