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Corporate and Government Attack against Striking Workers

It is the third day of the strike and the time of 9 o'clock in the morning is the deadline for the unionists. According to the corporate regulation, any employee that is absent for seven days is to be
dismissed. So the subway corporation and city adminstration are threatening striking workers with this punishment clause, pressing workers to return to work.
According to the corporate announcement, the number of workers crossing the picket line is about eighteen hundred, while union leaders at the command camp said that figure is overrated, as the corporation includes
non-unionists.
Until now subway trains are running by scab workers, but accidents and delays are growing. And progovernment civil groups are calling for stoppage of the strike, launch a petition campaign against the strike.
But the voices for the strike is not appearing on the press and media, and the union leaders show their anger to the press.

Mass Rally and March at downtown Seoul

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the striking workers really was held rally at the downtown Marronnier Park, where more than six thousand workers gathered, including leaders of metal workers union, Korea Telecom workers, construction workers, health care workers, and research
workers from Dae-duk Research Complex, near De-jun.
Especially the co-chairs of public sector federation, Yang Kyung-gyu and Kim Ho-sun, were most warm-heartedly welcomed, because their warrants for arrest were issued in the morning of the day. Lee Kap-young, KCTU chair, Yang Kyung-gyu, KPSU co-chair, and Mun Sung-hyun, KMWF chair, made speeches, emphasizing the unity and struggle of all the thirteen million workers.
After the rally, workers marched toward the Myungdong Cathedral. During the march, people at the street showed their interest and sympathy with the marching workers, asking for strike leaflets and newsletters. In one
and half hour of street march, workers ranks arrived at the church, welcomed by the striking subway drivers. And there they had again a concluding rally, in which speakers showed their solidarity with striking subway workers, claiming that now subway workers struggle is
not just their own struggle, but the struggle of all the workers through the country.

Possible Police Attack - a Moment of Tension

On the other hand, subway workers, who belong to maintenance, engineering and station staffing division, were continuing their sitting-in and camping out struggle, at the Seoul National University,
southern Seoul. About five thousand workers held a rally, preparing themselves for the possible crackdown by the riot police forces. In the afternoon, a police helicopter was flying over the campus, and there was
the growing number of riot police appearing before the gate of the university. But in the night the police is said to be moved away from the campus.

Daewoo Heavy Industry Workers Struggle against Corporate Sell-off Plan

The shipbuilding workers of Daewoo Heavy Industry started abrupt strike in the afternoon of April 20, when the union held a rally to resolve to stop the corporate sale. Under the restructuring pressure from the
government, Kim Woo-jung, chairperson of Daewoo Group, publicized that he will sell the shipbuilding part of DHI to Japanese Mitsui Heavy Industry. This corporate restructuring plan caused workers anger.
In the rally, over 4 thousand of the unionists shouted in a voice against the sell-foff, demanding that the management should cancel the sale plan, and Chair Kim should resign from the post. And they also demanded to recover reduced portion of wage and benefits last year. They vowed to robust struggle against the sale plan, and after the rally, they marched around the plant.

KSTU, Scientific Researchers' Union, Pledging to Strike

On April 20, Science Day, scientists and technicians across the country staged a strike, protesting the government's plan to lay off workers at state-run research institutes. Of the 29 chapters of the Korean
Scientists and Technicians (KSTU) based in Taejon, 26 voted to go on an indefinite strike and joined an anti-government rally which the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held in Seoul.
KSTU chairman Lee Sung-woo said that the research environment and morale among researchers have seriously deteriorated because of the government's reckless restructuring of state-invested research institutions. "The strike is our last resort to revive the severely
impaired science and technology arena," he claimed.

Korean Federation of Transportation, Public & Social Services Workers' Unions(KPSU)
Ko Yung Building, 2nd Floor, 301-28, Songsu 2-ga 3-dong, Sungdong-gu Seoul, Korea
tel: (82/2) 4977-888 fax: (82/2) 4970-444