Korea’s 2 Main Labor Groups at Odds

Conflicts stemming from differences over the proposed “Reform Measures for Advanced Industrial Relations Laws and Systems” escalated into a fierce battle between the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).

FKTU president Lee Yong-deuk agreed on the roadmap but then he was slapped in the face by a member of the KCTU and said, “The KCTU must make an official apology. If not, the FKTU will sever its relationship or end solidarity with the KCTU.”

More than 1,000 members of the FKTU staged a protest against the KCTU in front of the KCTU headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul and marched to their own headquarters in Yeongdeungpo 2 street, Yeongdeungpo-gu.

The KCTU said, “The roadmap is an illicit product built by the government, the Korea Employers Federation and the KCTU. We will go on a general strike starting October.”

The assault against the FKTU president stirred friction, but some analysts say that the two umbrella groups were already at odds with each other when they had negotiations over the roadmap.

The FKTU is composed of small and medium-sized companies, so the group feared for its own survival in case full-time union members were denied wages. Therefore the FKTU has been opposed to the wage ban and argued for three years of delay for the ban.

In contrast, the KCTU has been strongly opposed to the adoption of substitute workers at public workplaces, which was agreed on at the Tripartite Commission meeting between labor, management and the government on September 11. Those public workplaces mostly belong to the KCTU and the use of substitute workers can rob them of power.

A government official who participated in the meeting said, “The two umbrella groups had conflicting views on the issue. I knew the separation was coming.”

libra@donga.com