South Korean workers strike
By Michael Chong
On July 8 the workers of the nine largest subsidiaries of the largest corporation in South Korea, the Hyundai Group, began to go on strike.
The strike is in protest against the company's unresponsive attitude and unwillingness to negotiate in a labour dispute that has now lasted many months.
Recently the Public Prosecutor's Office decided to bring criminal charges against prominent union officials involved in the dispute.
The workers of these subsidiaries, located in the city of Ulsan, have been demanding an improvement in their very low wages, an increase in the number of union members in administrative positions and a better retirement fund scheme.
In most case the company has not even attempted to negotiate with the workers.
For example, three days before the strike, a meeting was arranged between union representatives from 15 subsidiaries, the company and government officials. But this meeting was abandoned after 30 minutes because of the company's insistence that union representative from only five subsidiaries be present.
The company would like to prevent full-scale action by the workers by confining the dispute to certain subsidiaries.
The company has many times tried to exclude the Hyun Chong Lyun, the largest union body in Hyundai, from negotiations and to centre negotiations at the subsidiary level.
The government's intention to destroy this newly rising workers' movement also became evident when it brought criminal charges against four officials of the left-wing Chun Noe Hyup, the National Worker Association, who were involved in the Hyundai dispute. The charges were based upon labour law which prohibits
involvement of a "third party" in an industrial dispute.
This move by the government comes as a big disappointment for the workers' movement, after the election of the first civilian president in over 30 years, Kim Young Sam. Because of his lifelong opposition to military dictatorships, many hopes were raised about the possibilities of significant social reform.
However this "reformist" has shown the same antagonistic attitude to the workers. In a recent parliamentary speech he said that he will not tolerate any organisations aiming to "hurt the public", namely the workers' and student organisations.
The strike is continuing in the nine subsidiaries. Even though there were significant changes in the late '80s as a result of the mass movement of workers and students, the authorities are using the same tactics of oppression as before.