General Strike 2001! 55,228 workers walk out
55,228 workers went on General Strike on 12th and 13th June, as part of the collective actions of 'Summer Struggles' that take place at about this time each year...
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General Strike 2001! 55,228 workers walk out
55,228 workers went on General Strike on 12th and 13th June, as part of the collective actions of 'Summer Struggles' that take place at about this time each year, when workers who have not been able to come up with agreements with the management go on strikes. But this year, the workers were not merely angered by the attempts of the capitalists trying to undermine them during the negotiations, but also by the atrocious attacks and violence of the police at several plants where strikes were already underway, starting with the Daewoo plant on 10th April, and most recently at Carrier, Korea Telecom and Hyosung - elevating the tension and level of the struggles.
Especially notable was the strike by Korean Air and Asiana Airline pilots. The Korean Air flight crew members only managed to form a union in 1999, and has been undergoing constant threats from the management and denial from the government to recognize its status. On 12th and 13th, the union participated in its first General Strike, stopping most of domestic flights and some international flights. The Korean Air union was able to come to an agreement after marathon negotiations, forcing the management to allow more number of union representatives in the Safety Commission. Asiana Airlines have not come to an agreement yet, and the strikes are expected to be prolonged. Also joining the General Strike were the Health and Medical Workers' Union workers, striking and demonstrating at major hospitals around the country.
On 12th June, workers poured out onto the streets of central Seoul for a Korea Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) rally calling for 'the termination of neo-liberal restructuring, resignation of Kim Dae-Jung government and the victory of the all-out struggles and strikes'. KCTU urged for the management to correspond faithfully to the negotiations, and the government to stop being the capitalists' puppet and to stay out of the way. There were also calls and slogans denouncing the attempts of the government to retrogress the Labour Laws directed to undermine to rights of women workers, privatization and the selling off the Daewoo Motors to General Motors.
The government, ever since the plans for the General Strike were announced, has vowed to take on a firm stance against the workers - a position it was already putting into practice ever since the beginning of this year. During the General Strike, the police immediately issued warrants for the arrest of executives of KCTU including the president Dan Byeong-Ho and the Secretary General, and also 14 union staff members of Korean Air Line Flight Crew Union. President Dan has already been indicted of illegal strikes during his days as Vice-president but was pardoned after serving two thirds of his term. The police has cancelled his pardon. None have yet been arrested but are being hunted down by the police, sending in riot police into the KCTU offices.
The mainstream media also played its part, going through its usually rhetoric of 'how the strikes are causing discomfort for the general public' as if it ever knew what the people really do want, and continued its ideological propaganda aimed at deflating the spirit of the workers. Most of the newspapers decorated its front pages with absurd headlines such as 'Workers strike during the hard times of severe drought', when it is the government that squandered the tax payers' money on raiding workers instead of on concrete measures to overcome the most severe drought in the past 90 years. They argued that the strikes will drive away foreign investors and hinder the stabilization of the free market. Some paralleled the present situation with the UK workers' struggles of 1979-80, and urged President Kim to act with a iron fist just as Thatcher had, and restrict collective action.
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