[Editorial] Lotte strike teaches several lessons

Hotel Lotte`s management and employees fortunately struck a deal to end the 74-day long, protracted strike by making mutual concessions to reach a negotiated settlement.

Overall, it appears, Lotte`s striking union made bigger concessions to management than vise-versa. The union also softened its initial terms substantially over such disputed issues as wage increases and transfer of temporary workers and part-time help to full-time employees.

Hotel Lotte estimates that its losses during the striking period amount to a cash value of about 45 billion won due to the 50 percent reduction in use of its rooms compared with the same period of last year. Other non-monetary losses from the fallen image of the nation`s biggest hotel and Korea must be incalculable.

Our regret here is that such material and immaterial losses could have been minimized if the hotel had showed at the beginning genuine will and a positive attitude for the negotiations with the union.

The primary cause for the length of the strike was the government`s repressive measures to subjugate the striking workers. The police`s violent actions to put down the striking employees that involved the controversial mobilization of a drunken police task force, gave rise to the intervention of the country`s powerful Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Thereafter, the workers` strike, confined at first to one company, was exacerbated into a serious issue between the government and labor.

The police took repressive measures without due consultations with the government`s relevant ministries right after President Kim Dae-Jung`s remarks following the medical strike warning against the nation`s rampant, selfish protests of special-interest groups.

The Lotte case taught us a lesson that any police intervention in labor strikes must be confined to the minimum of cases that make the intervention inevitable. Strikes in individual firms must be left for their management and workers to resolve, even if it takes a long time.

The collective lawsuit by 270 female employees filed against Lotte for alleged sexual harassment became a major social issue with the intervention of Korean women`s organizations. The harassment issues were raised first during the labor dispute. We will have to wait for the forthcoming investigations by the Seoul Labor Bureau to know the exact details and facts about the allegations. Unlike in the past, it should be noted, we no longer tolerate men`s behavior to force his female subordinates to dance with him or to fill his cup with wine. The Lotte case must taught Korean firms a lesson that they should strengthen their training programs to prevent sexual harassment.

In the wake of IMF intervention, Korean companies have greatly increased the employment of temporary workers in order to reduce their overhead costs. Lotte`s temporary workers represent about 56.9 percent of its total workers, which is higher than the national average of 53 percent.

Our firms must pay special attention to improvements in welfare and working conditions for temporary workers. This issue, it is certain, will assume a central importance in this year`s labor negotiations with the unions.