[asia-apec 525] Government Arrests KCTU Leaders -- KCTU Calls for Generral Strike

[PAN Asia Pacific]

 From: inter at kctu.org ("KCTU Int. Sol.") 
 Date: 20 Jul 98



                  Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
        4th Fl. Samsun Bldg., 12-1 Samsun-Dong 1 Ga, Sungbuk-ku,
                          Seoul 136-041, Korea
            Tel.: +82-2-765-7269 Fax: +82-2-765-2011
             E-mail: inter at kctu.org http://kctu.org


KCTU Action Alert
July 20, 1998


                      KCTU Calls for General Strike
                       Midst Government Repression
                    And the Start of Mass Dismissals


               Government Arrests KCTU General Secretary,
               Chairperson of KCTU Seoul Regional Council


Korean Confederation of Trade Unions will launch a general strike on July
23. All members within 3 hours distance from Seoul are called on to converge
in Seoul for all day sit-in strike action. Over 50,000 KCTU members are
expected to hold an indefinite sit-in at major public centres in Seoul,
including the Seoul Railway Station Plaza, where thousands of unemployed
homeless workers have made their home last few months.

The KCTU decision to call for another general strike follows the refusal of
the government and employers to begin a consultation with the trade unions
to develop a socially acceptable framework and principles of a genuine
economic reform despite the 3 day coordinated strikes from July 14.

Government Rushes to Round Up Union Leaders

The KCTU decision is, also, a response to the government's police action to
arrest virtually all important trade union leaders. As of July 20, nearly
100 KCTU central, federation, and local leaders are wanted for arrest.
Included in the list are Yoo Duk-sang, the first vice-president of KCTU, Dan
Byung-ho, the president of the Korean Metal Workers Federation, Kim Ho-seun,
the president of Korean Federation of Public Sector Union (at the same time
the president of the Korea Telecom Trade Union), and Kim Kwang-shik, the
president of 35,000 strong Hyundai Motors Workers Union.

Currently five unionists are held in detention by police: Koh Young-joo, the
general secretary of KCTU, Im Seung-kyu, the chairperson of the KCTU Seoul
Regional Council, Choi Yong-kuk, the chairperson of Pusan-Yangsan Regional
Council of the Korean Metalworkers Federation (KMWF), Jeung Yoon-seung, the
chairperson of KMWF Inchon-Puchon Regional Council, and Kim Seung-ho, a
standing executive committee member of the Hyundai Motors Workers Union. (Mr
Kang Jung-man, the president of Hanil Danjo Trade Union was released the day
after the arrest, as a result of immediate protest by KCTU. Dan Byung-ho
narrowly escaped the capture as the people in his office held off riot
police which raided the office.)

Koh Young-joo, KCTU general secretary, has immediately begun a hunger strike
to protest government repression.

The Government-Employer Offensive

The spate of arrest signals the beginning of a coordinated action by the
government and the employers to destroy the KCTU. The government and
employers have continued to ignore and reject the KCTU demands and proposals
for a genuine consultation and social agreement as the foundation of a
socially acceptable economic reform and restructuring. The Kim Dae Jung
government, which has been intent on following the dictate, wishes, and the
whims of the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. government, and foreign
capital, has finally decided to remove the pretense of 'social dialogue'.

As soon as the government made clear its decision, the major conglomerate
chaebol magnates, following the government's lead, have begun to sack
workers. On July 16, the Hyundai Motors management sent notice of dismissal
to some 2,600 workers. On July 20, the management of the Daewoo Motors --
part owned by the General Motors -- gave notice to the Daewoo Motors Workers
Union to sack 2,995 workers.

Hyundai Motors:  The sack notice by the Hyundai Motors management came
despite the last minute proposal by the Hyundai Motors Workers Union. In a
press conference, held July 16 morning, president Kim Kwang-shik, proposed a
comprehensive package of "cost reduction" involving a suspension of
allowance payment (amounting to 250 billion won), working hour reduction
combine with work sharing by 1,800 workers, and 6 month of rotating leave
involving 1,500 workers with 50% wage plus 30% of wage compensation by fund
raised by the union. The Hyundai Motors had already shed 5,336 workers
through 3 rounds of "voluntary retirement". It had submitted notice of
layoff of 4,830 workers to the Ministry of Labour. The management has
already announced that it intends to sack additional 6,842 workers if the
union fails to agree to a 21.7% reduction in wage. According to the
management plan, a total of 16,000 workers may lose their jobs this year.

The management responded with disdain by sending out notices to some 2,600
workers. The dismissal list included Kim Kwang-shik, the president of the
union, most of the full-time union representatives, and active
delegate-shopstewards.

On July 20, 1998, despite the announcement by the management of a temporary
closure, nearly 10,000 workers reported to work in response to the call by
the union. They held protest sit-in. The workers were joined by the family
members of workers. Later in the afternoon, the management announced an
addition three days of temporary closure to prevent workers joining in the
strike.

The forced strike by the Hyundai Motors Workers Union is expected to
intensify as workers realise that the current management action is based on
a callous collusion between the government and the employers.

Daewoo Motors:  The action by the Hyundai Motors management has been adopted
as the model to follow by other conglomerate magnates, as can be seen by the
sudden announcement by the Daewoo Motors. It is said that a meeting of the
major executives of the Daewoo Group rallied together to follow the
Hyundai's lead. In the morning of July 20, the Daewoo Motors management sent
a notice of its intention to sack 2,995 workers . The announcement came as
the morning newspapers reported that Kim Woo Jung, the president of Daewoo
Group, currently serving as the chief representatives of the Korean
Federation of Industries, the umbrella organisation of 30 largest chaebol
groups -- at the same time the chairperson the Korea International Labour
Foundation ("KOILAF" -- supposedly a civilian "labour diplomacy" body to
publicise the industrial relations in Korea) funded by the government --
gave a lecture calling for a restraint in dismissing workers. The management
declared a three-day temporary closure, to give worker a "cooling off
period".

KCTU General Strike: an ultimatum

The anger of workers is not, however, showing any sign of cooling off.
Rather, KCTU unions and members are fast realising that the day of a virtual
"showdown" with the blind government and reckless employers is looming
closer.

Today, KCTU president Lee Kap-yong issued an ultimatum to the government. He
outlined a simplified set of demands to the government.

  * Undertake legal action against employers perpetrating illegal
    mass dismissal and fulfill the KCTU-Government agreement of June 5.
  * Hold a "Public Hearing" to identify the culprit
    of the current economic crisis.
  * Suspend the current dismissal oriented "structural adjustment"
    until the "Public Hearing" is completed.
    - Adopt an effective plan to guarantee jobs for the banks
       and companies forcibly closed by the government
    - Suspend the government plan for public utilities
       restructuration
    - Suspend the mass dismissals currently being undertaken
  * Stop all repression of trade union struggle

Lee Kap-yong, in a press conference today, declared "it is impossible to
undertake a genuine reform of the Korean economy without a thorough
investigation and accounting of those individuals -- the chaebol magnates
and the corrupt government official -- and the structural problems that gave
rise to the crisis." The call for legal action against the culprits of the
crisis reflects the public bewilderment and anger at the news that the
family of the bankrupt Hanbo Group -- the 13th largest chaebol group -- held
stashed away some 46 billion won in a secrete Swiss bank account.

President Lee warned that the Kim Dae Jung government is fast falling into
the same problem of "failure to reform" which brought about the collapse of
the previous Kim Young Sam government. He pointed out that "the Kim Dae Jung
government in the 6 months in government has abandoned any pretense of
standing on the side of people. It has rather adopted the IMF as its only
master and let the chaebols and other ultra conservative elite groups to
dominate the government policies. In doing so, it has abandoned all reform
agenda which the people has bestowed on Kim Dae Jung in electing him as the
president."

KCTU's ultimatum presents the minimum common ground for a negotiated
breakthrough of the impasse towards a consultative process of a fundamental
economic reform. President Lee declared that KCTU will begin an indefinite
general strike on July 23 if government fails to accept the KCTU demands.

Following the press conference, some 500 leaders of the KCTU-affiliated
unions held a special pledge rally at the Myongdong Cathedral to carry out
the general strike. They declared that it is no longer sufficient to carry
on the struggle based on issues of individual workplaces. Rather, time has
come for all workers and unions to fight under a single set of slogans and
demands. The resolution adopted at the rally declared, "the current
government policies for structural reform has lost all its meaning as a
meaning response to the economic crisis. In the government policy 'reform'
has come to mean 'mass dismissal'. As a result, workers are driven into
ruins. The Kim Dae Jung government's policies are not brining about the
recovery of the Korean economy. It is accelerating a total social
destruction. It is only strengthening the chaebol groups who are responsible
for the current crisis through their irresponsible and reckless activities."

The special resolution described the current coordination of government
repression of KCTU and the mass dismissals signaled by the chaebol magnates
as a "deliberate action to destroy all democratic trade union movement and
workers as a force for genuine reform". The resolution declared, "we will
rise in a total general strike to frustrate the evil intent", and pledged to
organise strongest possible general strike.

The Strike Programme

In a special message to all members, President Lee Kap-yong called on all
KCTU unions to begin strike on July 23 if the government fails to heed KCTU
demands. He called on all unions within 3 hour distance from Seoul to bring
all their members to Seoul. They will hold an ongoing protest rally and
over-night sit-in at major public centres in Seoul. Unions in other regions
are called on to organise similar actions in their own location.
Furthermore, all other unions are to prepare to converge on Seoul any time
called by the leadership. Members coming to Seoul have been informed to
bring with them 1 week's requirement in food, cooking tools, and sleeping
bags.

The Korean Metal Workers Federation plans to lead the KCTU general strike by
going into action one day earlier. On July 22, KMWF members from the major
unions, such as the Daewoo Motors Workers Unions and Hyundai Motors Workers
Unions will hold a major rally at the Seoul Railway Station.

On July 23, KCTU members will hold first general strike rally at the Jongmyo
Park in downtown Seoul to be followed by a march to the Seoul Railway
Station. By 5 p.m., over 50,000 workers are expected to prepare to spend the
night at the Seoul Railway Station and the Myongdong Cathedral for all-night
protest action. On July 24, the striking workers will hold three
simultaneous protest meetings in front of the offices of the Financial
Supervisory Commission, the ruling National Congress for New Politics, and
the Korean Federation of Industries. Around 4 p.m., workers at the three
protest location will spread to create a human chain that surrounds the
three major government and employers organisations.

Workers who are not able to strike will be encouraged to join the rallies
and the all-night protest actions.

Korea At A Cross-roads

KCTU, realising that the size of demonstrators going into the night may lead
to a confrontation with police, declared that all protest actions will be
conducted peacefully. It has "ordered" all members to comply with the
directives of the leadership, and "warned" the government not to provoke the
striking workers. In order to avoid any unnecessary clashes, KCTU has
identified a number of second, third line locations for safe all-night
protest action. KCTU members are called on to restrain from confronting the
police despite any provocation and disperse to gather at the second and
third line locations.

The KCTU general strike beginning on July 23 is expected to draw a new line
in the KCTU-government relations. KCTU has presented a new simplified set of
demands to the government as an ultimatum. The KCTU demands are designed as
the last resort effort to create a minimum common ground between the
government and the trade union movement. Government's positive response can
lead to a constructive -- while it cannot but always be fragile -- common
platform for a consultative process towards a genuine economic reform. But
the government failure can only be construed as the beginning of a
government's war agains workers.




For more information, contact

Yoon Youngmo
International Secretary
KCTU
email: inter at kctu.org
fax: +82-2-765-2011
tel.: +82-2-765-7269