Brussels, February 25, 1997 (ICFTU OnLine): Korea's outlawed Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has threatened a new wave of strikes starting February 28 unless the new anti-union labour legislation is repealed. The new law, adopted at a secret Parliamentary session on December 26, was to come into effect on March 1, but was forced back to Parliament by an unprecedented wave of strikes in which, for the first time in Korean trade union history, the KCTU and the legally-sanctioned Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) joined forces.
The law is presently being rediscussed in a Parliamentary sub-committee formed of 9 government and 9 opposition deputies and a new version is to be tabled to the full assembly on February 28.
But today's televised address by President Kim Young-sam, in which he apologised over the law rammed thorugh parliament last December, fell short of satisfying the trade unions which demand that the law be revoked.
"We plan an all-strike action on Friday to stop the new law from taking effect from March 1", a KCTU leader told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which sent another delegation to Korea last week, "Korea's local trade unions are on alert to go into action immediately if needed". The ICFTU delegation said that the KCTU and the FKTU were working together and the Presidents of the two groups have been holding strategy meetings. "No fundamental differences remain on the labour law", said George Martens, head of the ICFTU Trade Union Rights department, who was part of the recent delegation.The law adopted on December 26 allows companies to lay off workers, replace strikers and resort to unpaid overtime while postponing respect for the universal right of freedom of association and the recognition of the presently outlawed 500,000 strong KCTU until the year 2000 and maintaining a ban on trade union organisation for government employees and teachers.
The text has been condemned by the ICFTU as a step "backwards" and the Paris Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) which Korea recently joined has also expressed strong criticism. The UN's International Labour Office (ILO) will consider an ICFTU complaint at the March meeting of its Freedom of Association Committee.
It is still unclear whether any of the trade union demands will be met in the new draft prepared by the Parliamentary committee, although sources say that government resistance to allow teachers and public servant to form trade unions is particularly strong.
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