Compromise Between KFTU And Gov`t Just Around Corner

The four wanted leaders of the Korean Federation of Trade Union (KFTU) including Chairman Dan Byung-Ho came out of the Myung-Dong Cathedral where they were hold the strike, and presented themselves at the police station yesterday. This shows that the KFTU decided not to be isolated in the pending issues such as the five working days system.

And another factor would be the Catholic Church who demanded them to evacuate the cathedral, and gave a word that the government would take the converted measure toward the arrested and wanted laborers.

The government has hastened to improve the labor system since the joint strike finished with no great echoes received at the beginning of July. The government pledged the plan to legislate the five working days system within this year, and launched the special committee for the temporary workers within the Tripartite Commission. Such action by the government offered the just enough reason for the KFTU to step back from its firmest attitude that the government should resign.

The KFTU told in the press conference yesterday that ``the struggle of the first half resulted in that the government actively tried to resolve the major agenda. Because the prolonged strike can restrict the leaders` scope of the activity, we had to stop the strike in order to strongly organize the strike of the second half``.

An official of KFTU told that ``it is not discussed yet whether the KFTU will participate in the Tripartite Commission``. The KFTU denied that it had returned to the official dialog channel but it is likely to actively participate in the unofficial negotiation.

The official of the Ministry of Labor told that ``there have been the strong criticisms against the leader group of the KFTU among some unit labor unions under the KFTU. If the KFTU`s activities are normalized and the police`s strong measures to arrest and search the leaders of unit labor unions are eased with the appearance of voluntary by the leaders, the periled current executives of the KFTU will be able to consolidate their positions inside the KFTU``.

Kim Joon-Seok kjs359@donga.com