KCTU Meeting Dismissed

A special meeting of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) designed to put tripartite negotiations on track was dismissed in the face of opposition from its own members who blocked the conference hall protesting against the unions’ policy to return to the negotiation table.

The KCTU (union president: Lee Su-ho) planned to hold the meeting at Gyotong(Traffic) Hall in Sincheon-dong, Sonpa-gu, Seoul, on March 15 at 2:00 pm. to negotiate various issues, including resuming tripartite negotiation talks, but it failed amid strong opposition from the unions when the National Workers’ Union against Tripartite Negotiation and Social Consensus (NWU) and some 200 union members blocked the hall.

After having a scuffle with the host in the run-up to the meeting, the NWU, who entered the hall and took over the podium, protested, saying, “Drop the idea of tripartite negotiation,” and “Let’s hold a general strike.”

The leadership in the unions failed to stop the protest, and finally announced the meeting was canceled around 3:05 p.m.

Kang Seung-gyu, senior vice president of the KCTU, said, “The union will hold a meeting within a week to support the tripartite negotiation.”

This is the third time that the meeting was dispersed following similar cases in January and February this year.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com