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Korea National Railroad's first democratic union leader elected

21st May was a big day for the Korean labour movement, an event that will definitely become a milestone in history. Korea Railroad Workers' Union took off in 1948 as one of the most 'conservative' trade unions in Korea, and it was the first time ever that the leader of the trade union was democratically elected by direct vote of the union members. 714 ballots were set up all around the country, and Kim Jae-Gil of the democratic sector attained more than 60% of the near 25,000 votes of the Korea Railroad workers. It signalled the end to the rule by authoritarian revisionist union of the past 54 years.

A definite turning point

The past 54 years of the Korea Railroad trade union was indeed a history of submission and disgrace, and at the same time a history of a struggle to build an autonomous and democratic union by and for the workers. After the liberation of the Korean peninsula from the Japanese rule in 1945, Korean workers built the National Council of Chosun Trade Unions, of which the Railroad union was one of the main unions. But it survived less than a year, with President Lee Seung-Man's regime establishing the Daehan Federation of Trade Unions, a pro-government union and the mother organization of the present Federation of Korean Trade Unions(FKTU), and destroying the National Council. The Railroad Union was taken over by puppets of the Lee's government, and became a partner in developing capitalism with Japanese and US capital while keeping strict control of the workers. And this cooperation with the government carried on through military dictatorships, and right onto this day. The president of the union was elected indirectly - the workers electing district representatives, the latter then electing board members, who finally elect the president of the union. The workers hardly had the chance to even see the face or hear the voice of their to-be leader. However, while union leaders and bureaucrats collaborated with the government, the workers refused submission and struggled for union democracy. After the workers' struggles and the general strike of 1987, the Railroad workers have constantly fought against the raise of union membership fees and for direct election of the union president. In 1994, engine drivers all around the country went on strike for the first time in history and 54 of them were fired in the process. Afterwards, the 'democratic sector' of the workers established the 'Korea Democracy Railroad Labour(KDRL)' to be the center of the struggle for the democracy of the union. Last year, the Struggle Headquarters fought for direct elections - for something that is so obvious and fundamental, but yet deprived.

After decades of struggle while withstanding threats from the reactionary union as well as the management, the workers were awarded victory at the first-ever direct elections in May of 2001. In a statement issued after the victory, Kim Jae-Gil commented that "This presidential election was a fight between democracy and reactionism, a fight between truth and lies, and a fight between a small number of labour aristocrats and the 25,000 workers of Korea Railroad. Thus our victory today is a victory of the 25,000 workers who yearned for a democratic union, and a result of a stern judgement on the part of the workers who have declared that an union which sells off the lives of workers can no longer be leaders."

Prospects of the newly elected union leader

However, the road ahead of Kim Jae-Gil will not be a smooth one. First of all, although the rank-and-file workers gave their support to the democratic sector, majority of the district and council representatives are still very much sympathetic to the conservative line of former leaders. This conflict could lead to a hindrance of the foremost goal of Kim, which is making reforms to the structure of the union and restraining the hierarchical power that the bureaucrats previously had, but most importantly, resisting the plans to privatize Korea Railroads - a plan that the company, government and former union had agreed to. Tension on a broader scale is also expected, since the union under Kim could break away from the reactionary FKTU and join KCTU, which had given support to Kim throughout his struggles with the union of the last few years. With 25,000 members, the Korea Railroad Workers' Union played a prominent part in FKTU, and in turn with the collaboration with the government. Although there has been no definite gesture towards a secession from FKTU, FKTU cannot help but keep a sharp eye towards possible moves by Kim in favour of KCTU.

But despite the difficulties that Kim face, the new union has sworn an all-out struggle against privatization and the neo-liberal Kim Dae-Jung government. In February, the government announced in its preliminary 'Railroad Industry Structural Reform Act', plans to merge Korea National Railroad and Korea Train Express (KTX) to from a private joint stock company by 2003, close unprofitable routes, raise fees and lay off workers. Kim Dae-Jung's government, under the prescription by the IMF and pressure from capital to implement extensive economic restructuring, is in the midst of privatizing public services such as electricity, telecommunications, gas and rail. It is also one of the major requirements of the Korea-US Bilateral Investment Treaty - to open the public services 'market' to US investors.

We have already seen what privatization of water resources has done to the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and we are now witnessing the lay-off of 7,000 workers of the Korea Telecom. Privatization merely bloats the profit of multinational companies in sacrifice of lives and welfare of the people. Bringing about a definite cleavage in the submissive and reactionary history of the past 54 years, the new Korea National Railroad Workers' Union is now expected to join the lines, and hopefully head the struggle against privatization and neo-liberalism.