[asia-apec 325] Strike Urgent Report #13

[amc]

                                   Strike Urgent Report #13 
                            - edited on January. 15, 1997, at 01:00 
                     Twelfth day of the General Strike in THE SECOND WAVE 

The general unity for a response to the hard line policy! 
     President Kim Young-sam, on 13th, clarified again that his
administration has no plan to repeal 
     the revised labor laws as the protesting union workers have demanded.
     Addressing 252 New Korea Party(NKP) law-makers, district chapter
chairmen and standing 
     advisors attanding a dinner he hosted at Chong Wa Dae, Kim instructed
the ruling camp to take 
     complementary measures following the law revisions, saying that "I know
the revised labor law 
     cannot satisfy labor and management both but the law was an inevitable
choice" 
     Today, January 14, Kwon Young-kil, the KCTU president, in relation with
the reaffirmation of a 
     lean-to-hard line policy like that the government will not amend the
revised labor law, said that 
     "it's a treatment not gripping public opinion" and made it clear again
that "even for 
     communicating the will of peaple uprightly, we'll rush into the third
phase of general strike on 
     15th as planned where public sectors including the workers of subways
and telecommunications 
     will join up." 
     Following that plan, starting tomorrow morning, subway workers in Seoul
and Pusan and Korea 
     Telecom union members are scheduled to go on an indefinite strike. The
KCTU said that some 
     250.000 workers of 250 affiliated unions will go on a full fledged
walk- out indefinitely from 
     today. 
     In addition to that, some 700.000 FKCU-affiliated workers of 16
industries under its 
     wing-banking, chemical, metal, auto, taxi and others-are ready to go on
a 39-hour strike from 4 
     a.m. today. Union members of 35 banks under the wing of the industrial
unions are set to go on 
     strike for four hours from noon today and tomorrow. Banking union
federation spokemen said 
     that about 100,000 unionized banking personnel, including tellers, are
expected to join up in what 
     they say would be the first general strike by banks in 100 years since
the introduction of the 
     modern banking system in the country.
     At least 50,000 taxis will stay idle starting today and tomorrow as
unionized cabbies will join 
     the strike while half of intra-city buses will remain parked, with
drivers on the picket line, in six 
     major cities. 
Foreign Labor Activists Warned on Intervention 
     The Korean government planned to take legal action against what
officials called "illegal" 
     intervention by foreign labor leaders in the ongoing national strikes.
"The gobernment will first 
     warn them of their illegal activities", a senior Chang Wa Dae official
said yesterday.
     Korean officials, expressing personal frustrations over the presences
of foreign sysmpathizers at 
     the sites of labor unrest, had not publicly taken issue with the case. 
     But top administration and ruling party officials almost simultaneously
broke their silence on the 
     issue yesterday, accusing both the korean labor groups and the foreign
activists. Ruling party 
     Chairman Lee Hong-koo criticized the Korea Confederation of Trade
Union(KCTU) for allying 
     themselves with foreign labor groups and refusing his proposal for a
televized debate on the new 
     labor laws. 
     The delegation members have been attending protest rallies and news
conferences with korean 
     union readers, in which they pledged international support for the
korean workers' efforts to 
     repeal the new labor bills. The four include representatives from the
Brussels-based International 
     Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory
Committee of the 
     Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD).
     Kang Sam-jae, secretary-general of the ruling New Korea-Party, accused
the foreign activists of 
     violating international practices, saying that international
organizations have only to send 
     documents if they find problems with the Korean labor laws. 
     The ongoing nationwide strikes are receiving intense international
attention, dealing a heavy blow 
     to the Kim administration's glovalization and other reform efforts. 


     Published by the Telecommunication Taskgroup for General Strike (TTGS)
     Distributed through Online BBS Service and Internet twice a day
     Phone : +82-2-855-1913
     E-mail : rys at member.sing-kr.org
     Homepage : http://kpd.sing-kr.org/strike