[asia-apec 328] Strike Urgent Report #16

[amc]

                                   Strike Urgent Report #16 
                            - edited on January. 18, 1997, at 01:00 
                     SECOND day of the General Strike in THE THIRD WAVE 

Court Doubts Constitutionality of Labor Law Under Hot Debate 
     A district court yesterday decided to ask the Constitutional Court to
review the constitutionality 
     of the majority party's railroading of new labor bills early in the
morning at the end of last 
     year. Civil Department No. 1 of the Chang-won District Court made the
decision in connection 
     with a request by the Hyundai Precision Co. that the court order
unionized workers on strike to 
     return to work because their strike is illegal. 
     The trial will be delayed until the Constitutional Court delivers a
final judgement on whether or 
     not the Assembly action violated the Constitution. 
     The Supreme Court will convey the district court's request to the
Constitutional Court, which is 
     expected to act on it early next month at the earliest. 
     The civil panel, led by Senior Judge Mun Hung-su, raised questions
about the legality of opening 
     the plenary session during which the labor bills were passed at 6 a.m.
instead of the legally set 
     2 p.m. An amendment to the Law on the Establishment of the Agency for
National Security 
     Planning was also passed by the New Korea Party(NKP) during the session. 
     It suspected it might violent Paragraph Two, Article 7 of the National
Assembly Law, which 
     stipulates that plenary sessions shall open at 2 p.m. 
     The panel said that the starting time may be changed through agreements
by floor negotiating 
     groups, but that there was no prior consultation for that time. The
National Assembly Speaker 
     notified the changed opening time only to ruling party lawmakers. 
     The civil panel said, "Since the country is in crisis with national
opinion split and the economy 
     heading toward catastrophe due to the workers' waves of strikes, the
Constitutionaly Court has 
     the grave duty to make a decision as soon as possible. 
     "If the Constitutional Court rules that the passage of the laws is
unconstitutional, unionized 
     workers will end their strikes for they will have attained their goal.
If it is judged constitutional, 
     the workers will have to seek change of the laws through legal means
such as elections, not by 
     means of strikes."
     (From The Korea Times, January 17, 1997)
The Violent Gale of Timeworn McCarthyism Blows Hard Again! 
     The government plots to link the struggles of laborers with "impure"
left-wing powers. 
     Prosecutor Choi Byong-kuk, head of the Public Security Departement
said, on 15th, "The general 
     strikes are degenerating to class struggle", insisting that "the
evidence is that North Korean 
     propaganda broadcasts are instigating the working class to destroy the
government and that 
     "communist" fliers were found at the scene of labor rallies". 
     Kim Chul, spokeman of New Korea Party(NKP), in reference to the
subversive printed materials, 
     said that prosecution, police and the National Security Planning Agency
must ferret out the entity 
     and wirepullers of the impure factors", denouncing that "the power that
are distributing the fliers 
     carrying slogans such as "Down with capitalist government" tries to
overturn the nation by 
     switching the strikes from a struggle against labor laws to one against
the system". 
     Those signs that the government intends to connect the strikes with a
left-wing force, seem to be 
     followed by the designs of separating ordinary citizens from laborers. 
     An official said "burdens imposed with the authorities are the
resistances of people in general, 
     rather than the strikes of labors' side. So, if ordinary citizens and
laborers are separated, it will 
     not so difficult to suppress the strikes." He hinted that the in-secret
damage of McCarthyism was 
     one of the strategies for putting down strikes, adding that "it is
important to disjoin the middle 
     classes from the workers', political authority from labor powers, the
FKTU from the KCTU, and 
     the KCTU's leader groups from workplaces." 
     This kind of maneuvering is the same timeworn trick that the past
military dictatorship regimes 
     took advantage of. Those governments had oppressed anti-government
activities by imputing them 
     with the accusation of pro- communist. 
     The main opposition party dismissed the NKP's statement as a throwback
to Cold War rhetoric. 
     "These practices of the government are in an chain of dirty political
maneuverings and too, the 
     evidences that Kim's government loses the ability to cope with the
existing situations rationally", 
     a response from the National Congress for New Politics(NCNP) says. 


     Published by the Telecommunication Taskgroup for General Strike (TTGS)
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