Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!

As many people probably know by now Unions in Korea are not very happy about the Labor Ministry's plans to force through the new labor laws involving paid union members and multiple unions in one shop. What has been surprising though is that the biggest bullhorn in recent days has been from the FKTU, a more conservative pro-government federation, and not the KCTU. It looks like now that the dog poop has hit the fan, and the FKTU is now threatening a general strike.

"We regard the issue of multiple unions and salary ban as a matter of life and death for 16 million workers and will devote all our energy to fighting against it (revisions)," the FKTU said in a statement issued in the name of 652 representatives.

The FKTU agrees to having more than one union at a single work place but opposes government demands that only one of them be recognized as the negotiating partner with the management. It also argues that the government's "no work, no pay" principle undermines the union's important role as the mediator between workers and the management.

The labor association, which claims over 700,000 members nationwide, said they were abandoning a tripartite panel's agreement reached in February on "sharing the burden" to help overcome the global economic crisis. The KFTU had pledged at the time to refrain from strikes and to freeze or cut back wages.

According to the JoongAng Daily, the FKTU is planning to team up with the KCTU to coordinate a general strike.

“If our demands regarding multiple unions in a single workplace and pay for full-time unionists are not fully satisfied, we have no option but to start a general strike,” Jang Seok-chun, head of the FKTU, told reporters in a press conference held at the Korea Electric Power Corporation in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. “If we team up with the KCTU, we will stage a joint strike .?.?. Executive members of two labor unions will meet to discuss forming an alliance on Oct. 21.”

...

Lee Su-bong, KCTU spokesman, said there’s no major obstacle to forming an alliance and staging a strike with the FKTU because the “two sides share the same views on the disputed matters.”

Has President Lee's labor policies finally pushed the unions over the edge? Has the FKTU turned over a new leaf? Will this actually be a real strike and not just a weak 3 day event like the KCTU's last general strike? Will I ever get my workers visa allowing me to watch these events and take pretty photos for you all?

My answers: Yes. No. Possibly. And hopefully.