Disputes Leave Trade Union in Turmoil

Internal dispute within the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) regarding the election of a new chairperson is reaching a dead-end.

On the morning of February 13, the hardliner Pan Leftist Faction and moderate People’s Faction both held press conferences an hour apart, criticizing each other, hence leading to forecasts that, for a while, it will be virtually impossible to select a new chairperson.

The internal conflict of KCTU shows signs of factional fighting and is expected to put a big burden on the unions, companies, and the government with major pending labor issues such as the Irregular Worker Law.

Hardliner and candidate number one Lee Jung-hoon and his camp held a press conference at the KCTU conference room in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, at 10:00 a.m. and called to defer the temporary meeting of representatives, which is scheduled to be held on February 21 to select a new chairperson.

They argued, “[The People’s Faction] is appointing representatives or changing them at its discretion in order to strengthen its ruling system.”

Following them, the People’s Faction that holds the majority of representatives held a press conference at 11:00 a.m. and claimed, “Candidate Lee’s side systematically mobilized union members under him and dissipated the February 10 regular representative meeting.”

They argued, “The chairperson should be elected at the February 21 representative meeting,” and announced plans to file suit against candidate number one for the National Election Commission.

With such sharp conflict between both sides, it is forecasted that the February 21 temporary representative meeting will not take place.

The People’s Faction revealed a document allegedly created by the hardliners to dissipate the scheduled February 10 regular representative meeting. The document dated February 9 has contents such as “Demand to Dispose By-Election Proposal for the Reason of Unfair, Hasty Elections with Unqualified Representatives.”

It is quite possible that the hardliners with fewer representatives plan to continue blocking the election of a chairperson so that they can expand their power. There is also the possibility of the hardliners on the defensive might heighten the level of struggle for issues such as the Irregular Worker Law. In other words, they plan to gain support by offering a clear stance.

Both sides, which have been divided since the old student movement days by the name of National Liberation and People’s Democracy, have had their gap deepen since the launch of the 1998 Korea Tripartite Commission.

The hardliners consider that systems unfavorable to laborers such as layoffs and detachment work have been adopted with the launch of the Tripartite Commission. That is why they are very negative about participating in tripartite talks.

Last year, when former KCTU commissioner Lee Soo-ho, who is considered as moderate, tried to submit the “Social Dialogue Participation” to the representative meeting, the hardliners hindered the meeting by pouring flammable substances.

On this aspect a moderate KCTU official commented, “I don’t know what the people on that side want to do. Instead of fighting for the laborers, the KCTU is in chaos because of the hardliners.”

Eun-Woo Lee libra@donga.com