Concern Growing over Prevalence of Strike

`Consecutive wins!` said an expert on labor-management relations after the news about some progress in negotiations with the Korean Cargo Workers Federation. KCWF is in fact not a labor union organization, therefore not allowed to take collective actions such as strike under the law.

Now that KCWF gained upper hand in the negotiations following the earlier two major labor-management confrontations involving Doosan Heavy Industries and Railway Corporation that were seen as a victory to labor unions, some begin to raise the concern that workers resort to means of force too often and too easily.

With major issues such as the five-day workweek system, conditions for non-regular employees, corporate pension and civil servants labor unions, the concern seems legitimate.

If workers continue to resort to show of force, the strategy could backfire, ending up hurting the position of the government, believed to be more flexible on labor issues than its predecessors.

▽Show of Force

Before the latest confrontation, workers at Doosan Heavy Industries and Railway Corporation also went on strike to make their voice heard. And the earlier two cases were widely seen as the victory on the labor side.

At the negotiations mediated by Minister of Labor Gwon Gi-hong, Doosan Heavy Industries agreed not to seek damage against union members; hire again five sacked employees; and pay 50% of wages to union members despite their absence in workplace during the strike.

The Railway Corporation also agreed to most of demands put forth by the union, including reinforcement of workforce, restoration of sacked employees and abolition of the one engineer per train system.

KCWF also might not have got what they wanted if they did not resort to show of force. Goods owners such as POSCO, INI Steel and Dongkuk Steel, in fact, had refused to talk with the federation, citing that they “have contracts with freighters not truck drivers.”

˝Although Doosan Heavy Industries had to make many concessions even compromising the `no wage for no labor` principle, the Railway Corporation case was seen as reiterating the government position (withdrawal of privatization plan) and implementing the earlier agreements (hiring sacked employees again),˝ Minister Gwon said at a press interview on May 7.

˝The negotiations with KCWF must also be seen as a result of long efforts for discussion, rather than unilateral show of force,˝ he added.

▽Government Labor Policy Losing Balance

˝The government has been sticking to the principle of building a mutual relationship between management and labor based on balance of power,˝ Gwon stressed. ˝If workers resort to violent means, however, we have to take due measures under the law, arresting those responsible.˝

Businesses, however, say that the government labor policy has already lost its balance and the labor-management relations are lopsided.

˝The government has a propensity to take a political approaches to labor issues,˝ pointed out Lee Dong-eung, director at the Korea Managers Association. ˝If it continues to take the political approach, it will end up hurting the market principles and social order.˝

˝If the government take on the arbitrator`s role every time, it will only harm the autonomy of labor-management relations,˝ some experts on labor issues also warned. ˝The government must think over what its role must be like again.˝

Kyung-Joon Chung news91@donga.com