KORAIL strike called off...

After severely damaging the railway system and being constantly harassed by the state, the KORAIL union have decided to conditionally end the longest strike in the union's history. Time will tell why they decided to end the strike and if this is a good move; KORAIL was in the weaker position and many officials doubted KORAIL could last a long term strike.

In other news, the ILO has condemned the Korean government for its substandard labor laws involving irregular workers. They also continued the long tradition of condemning penal code 314 (which allows business to sue workers for obstruction of business), which has been on the ILO's list for one of the longest running complaints against any country (its been going on for ten years). For the full report by the body (as well as information on other countries) look here.

UPDATE:

Reuters has actually posted a nice and relatively long article on this news event. Unfortunately the news seems to be far more griming than what Korean news sources are reporting:

The union said it was suspending the strike temporarily to regroup, but management said it was effectively a surrender.

"We are calling on comrade members to briefly return to the workplace so we can prepare for a new strike," the union said in a statement. "We have not been able to achieve our demands."

Controversy over woman's law and pro-poor policies..

Korea's gender laws are not exactly known for being the most progressive in the world, and are pretty terrible for a country as developed as Korea. One controversial law is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Gender Equality who has submitted to the Constitutional Court is against the spirit of the basic law (whatever that means).

The law as stipulated in the country's criminal code states, "Men may be punished by a maximum prison term of two years or a maximum fine of 5 million won for luring chaste women to have sex with them through false promises of marriage or other deceptions."

The part the ministry specifically objects to refers to is "chaste women," saying that it carries implications of sexual discrimination.

The ministry also added that the concept of the law runs the risk of perpetuating the stereotype that women don't possess the ability to make decisions using their own free will.

"In the United States and Germany, for example, there is a clear tendency to bring the sense of equality and revise anti-rape laws by no longer defining women as sole victims. Women are replaced by persons in these countries' laws," a ministry spokesman said.

"Chastity is expected not just from women but also from men," he said, explaining that the law as it is, sees women as the only gender that should abide by chastity.

The ministry's opinion comes at a time when the Constitutional Court is scheduled to hold an open hearing on a petition filed by a man who has been accused of having sex with a female colleague on four occasions after he promised to introduce her to his parents, a usual part of marriage protocols.

In its July 2002 ruling, the court supported the constitutionality of the law in a 7-to-2 majority decision. At that time, the majority opinion was based on the court's view that the law helped preserve the spirit of chastity in society.

Good point, but how about the concept that women should be chaste for this law to work being a major issue? Or how about the fact that the law makes it look like chaste women are just a bunch of children who will be lured into indecency with a few tricks? If I want to get some action in Suwon, do I just have to promise some random virgin marriage?

In other news, the new chair of the Grand National Party (GNP) has publicly stated that the GNP will focus on protecting the working class and poor sections of society.

``There has been a rising demand for policy responses to improve the livelihood of working class families and underprivileged people and this requires the ruling party to respond,'' he said.

Here is one way that will help the underprivileged in Korean society; stop screwing around with irregular workers who generally represent the most marginalized and poorest sections of Korea. Stop allowing corporations to push back the date when they have to transition their irregular workers to regular, and stop cutting back benefits for companies that do this. That should help. But then again, I am just some crazy American so what do I know?

Independent unions recieve higher wages then others...

According to a study by the JoongAng Daily and Labor Ministry.

The wage growth rate in workplaces with independent laborers was between 5.2 and 6.8 percent during a three-year period. Unionized workers under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions saw the rate of growth decrease from 4.5 to 3.9 percent while unionists affiliated to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions saw a rate growth of 4.5 to 4.7 percent. In the first half of this year, wage growth in workplaces with no unionized laborers was 2 percent. Wage growth for unionists under the FKTU, independent workers and members under KCTU were 0.9, 0.8 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

I should say I am not really shocked; from most of the talk I have heard from these independent unions have been mostly focused on increasing their economic standing. Of course such narrow focus creates a giant misconception on the purpose of unions. Korean workers do not just fight for high wages (though that is a common demand). Many disputes have came over the issue of layoffs, fringe benefits, seniority vs performance wages, working conditions, temporary/irregular workers and control of their workplace.

However, each Simpac worker received incentives worth 10 million won ($8,090) and company shares at the end of last year due to increased profits since unionists withdrew from the KCTU in January of last year. It was the first incentive in 10 years. Nam Ho-ki, 48, who has worked at the firm for 22 years, said workers once received nothing despite past profits. He said employees now believe there will be compensation if they work hard.

“While the company suffered from a deficit in the first half of this year due to the economic downturn, unionized workers first suggested a wage freeze,” said Choi Jin-shik, chairman of Simpac. “The firm will do its upmost to run the business successfully so that management can offer workers incentives by the end of this year.”

Some said that changing characteristics of labor-management relations in Simpac are largely influenced by its labor union’s withdrawal of membership from the KCTU. All the unionists voted in favor of the withdrawal.

It sounds like business is starting to co-opt these independent unions by giving them economic benefits in exchange for cooperation. This is what Japan has done which was a major success in derailing the once militant Japanese workforce. From a management perspective (as well as a union bureaucrat) this is a good thing. And I'm pretty sure the unionized workforce is pretty happy.

The question is this, is this good for workers overall? No. What often happens in these type of agreements is that the management will give high economic incentives to its unionized workforce that represents a small portion of their total workforce. Management then makes this up by treating its non-unionized parts like crap outsourcing much of the work overseas and begin relying on temporary/irregular workers domestically. This is what happened in Japan; you got a well off labor aristocracy (as Lenin would have put it) while most of the employees suffer. For women and minorities (who make the majority of both overseas workers and irregular workers) this is bad.

KCTU calls a general strike..

After nearly months of waiting around and speaking big, the KCTU has finally called for a general strike in solidarity with the Ssangyong workers and in protest of the "MB (Myung-bak) Evil Bills" in the National Assembly on media reform and irregular workers. The strike is go on until only July 24th, so I question how effective they will be. The last General Strike came last spring during the candlelight protests.

The KCTU now also has a lovely photography of the Ssangyong Occupation here. Apparently scabs are also firing things from slingshots at the striking workers according to the KCTU.