Hyundai union avoids strike for the first time...

For 15 straight years, the Hyundai Group Trade Union Council has gone on strike every year in protest of wage cuts, working conditions and numerous other issues. That streak ended this week as the Union agreed to wage freezes without going on strike. This has been actually fairly large news as I've seen numerous news groups reporting on the news event which should give you an idea on how militant the Hyundai Group Trade Union Council is historically.

This itself isn't that shocking if one has been paying attention to labor news. Earlier this year the Hyundai union voted in a more "moderate" union President who openly ran on the grounds he will be less political and hostile than previous leaders. Overall, there seems to be a major gutting of the militancy within Korea's auto-unions, traditionally a very militant workforce. Along with the stuff involving Hyundai, the gutting of the Ssangyong Union's militant union members also is going to have lasting impact on labor relations in the auto industry. How far this goes is still up in the air especially among the small domestic auto companies in Korea where militancy and class conflict is still common.

KORAIL union leader arrested...

In recent news that would only shock those who have not been paying attention to the news recently, the KORAIL union leader has been arrested for carrying out an illegal strike.

Expect news of the pending lawsuits to hit over the next few months and further arrests. Atleast there isn't any black cars randomly coming to peoples houses like in the good ol days.... yet.

Second English teacher union founded in Incheon

In an attempt to stop the numerous problems English teachers face in Korea, several teachers at a hagwon in Incheon have formed a union to deal with this issues. The idea of making a giant union for foreign English teachers has never been that popular in the ESL circle. Outside of the obvious high turnover problems, its pretty easy to see the government cracking down on such union due to the ambiguity of Korean law on what "political activity" actually means for foreign workers. ATEK in some ways is suppose to act like an alternative, but its history has been uneven in certain areas and seems to be more than a place where English teachers can meet up. For the most part, English teachers in Korea are pretty much left to their own devices even when it comes to clear violations of their contract. Even public jobs aren't guaranteed as the last minute canceling of numerous ESL teachers last August showed us. It is a cutthroat industry that can tarnish how someone views Korea permanently.

Multi-union law delayed, alliance over..

Last Friday, a last minute deal between the FKTU and Labor Ministry was reached that delayed implementation of the new labor laws until 2010. You can read about the deal here. Very few people are happy with what happened, from both business side and the KCTU. The KCTU has announced it will hold demonstrations against the new tripartite agreement. The Hankyoreh has a short interview with the KCTU chairman right here. Korea Times also has a decent article citing the breakup here. The KCTU was not aware of any negotiations and seems received the news the same way I did on Friday, by hearing it from the news.

Overall, this is a disaster and the worst realistic scenario imaginable. Not only is the labor movement completely blocked, it looks like this is going to be one of those issues that will tie up the movement for a while. This issue will be going on for around 15 years when this labor revision takes affect (assuming it passes the National Assembly). Out of all the issues within the Korean labor movement, this is not something we need to be spending 15 years on, especially when the government is still refusing to do its job on the irregular worker issue or when numerous major strikes are failing due to lack of support and state violence.

In other news, Korail is going to take major action against union members during the weeklong strike that took place about two weeks ago. The Labor Ministry also continued its war against public employee unions by refusing the application of the new integrated civil servant union, demanding more information on membership rules, how elections are run and demanded the chairman to send in a stool sample to show that his digestive system is not red. Some scotch sounds good right now

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."

Truckers join the railroad workers...

The current strike Korea Railway Worker's has gone on for over 5 days now, with no signs of it slowing down. While freight services have generally found ways to work around the strike, its been made clear that the union clearly has the advantage right now. On Monday (or Sunday over in the States), the KORAIL Workers got a major boost when the Korea Cargo Transport Workers' Union (KCTWU) announced they will refuse to ship freights during the strike. This news shouldn't be a major surprise to those familiar with the history of these two unions; the two unions have a long history of giving support to eachother during strikes.

In related news about 187 KORAIL union leaders will be summoned for interrogation or face arrest for creating an illegal strike. The union might also face a compensation law suit from KORAIL for the damages it has done so far (they've already lost 4.7 billion won within 5 days). This probably part of the on-going escalation being carried out by the state, as President Lee has announced that the government will not tolerate the strike.

Other links on the strike:

"Chaos looms as truckers join rail workers in strike" from the Korea Herald (also posted at Yonhap)
"Concerns grow as strike drags on" from the Korea Herald
"Strike paralyzes South Korea's rail services" from UPI Asia
"President orders stern action against striking public workers" from Yonhap

General strike looks inevitable...

Hope all my American readers had a nice holiday, meanwhile a couple major newsworthy events happened over the last few days. The biggest being collapse of last minute talks between the two major labor umbrella unions and the labor ministry.

However, Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee walked out of the conference room in Yeouido, Wednesday, saying, “There will be no more talks.” Lim is the point man for President Lee in labor affairs, vowing in public that Korea’s militant union movement is the most backward among advanced nations and poses a major threat to continued economic growth.

The KCTU said Thursday that they were not ready to back down.

“The government and businessmen give nothing but pain and toil to people. It’s time to hear the music,” it said in a press release. KCTU leader Lim Sung-kyu said that the organization was ready to go on strike.

The FKTU has already begin throwing its weigh around by occupying the GNP's headquarters Friday during a sit-in. To add more fuel to the fire, the Korean Railway Workers’ Union strike has also started bringing freight shipping in Korea to a stop. Expect more news after the weekend.