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Jul. 01  2025
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Subway Workers' Strike Suspended

At an emergency general assembly of members at 9 p.m., April 26, 1999, Seok Chi-soon, the president of the Seoul Subway Workers Union, declared that the subway workers' strike is called off.

Source  :  KCTU

KCTU-Wide General Campaign Continues
Learning How Difficult the Struggle Is

At an emergency general assembly of members at 9 p.m., April 26, 1999, Seok Chi-soon, the president of the Seoul Subway Workers Union, declared that the subway workers' strike is called off.


Inside the Decision to Suspend the Strike

The decision to suspend the strike was made in consultation with the leadership of the Korean Federation of Transport, Public & Social Services Labour Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, on the basis of an extensive consideration about the state of the union, the
position of the government, and the overall strategy of the KCTU-wide general campaign.

The emergency members assembly, held at the Myongdong Cathedral, was attended by some 4,000 workers. The assembly unanimously adopted the proposal by the leadership to end the strike and return to work. Following the decision, some 70% of the union membership who had
been on strike until the last moment reported back to their stations by the late evening.

The decision was based on an in-depth assessment of the overall situation. The government had maintained a hardlined stance refusing to engage in any kind of negotiations. KCTU was able to ascertain that the government was intent on denying recognition to the KCTU and
subway workers' demands. On the other hand, it stepped up the measures of
repression and harassment. It announced its plans to dismiss all striking workers and take legal action against union leaders. There were no signs of a possibility for a negotiated settlement.
And there was always the threat of sending in riot-police to violently end the strike.

The last time the subway workers struck, it lasted six days. On the last day, the union had around 20% of the members out on strike, with most of the striking workers dragged back to work by police. The remaining strikers had to admit their fight was defeated.

On April 26, 1999, the union had to face up to the reality ? despite all its efforts that the members, one by one, not because of a lack of determination, may be forced to abandon the strike and their fellow workers due to various personal reasons. The fear of loss of job losing all their retirement allowance, the absolute absence of a prospect for a successful settlement, sheer pressure from the families would be sufficient to break any person's will and determination.


The Vilification and Harassment Campaign by the Government

The striking workers camping out at the Seoul National University were exposed to constant harassment and repression. Two police helicopters hovered above the strikers camp and conducted a regular low-level flight. Striking workers had to persevere with swelling of dust due to the regular low flying. At the same time, during the night, riot police would
charge in to the campus threatening arrest. Striking workers resting in their tents had to pack up every half an hour and take flight to avoid being apprehended by riot police. The riot police would withdraw
after about an hour of harassment only to return about an hour later.

This kind of harassment campaign is combined with a psychological warfare. The senior personnel of the Seoul Subway Corporation made telephone calls to homes of striking workers to warn that their husbands or sons -- members at the Seoul Subway Workers Union are mainly
male with women workers less than 5% -- were risking dismissal, loss of
retirement allowance, or imprisonment. They were called on to persuade and pressure their striking family members.
Furthermore, when the government and the Corporation began to step up their action, they called on the family members to come into the Corporation to sign the "returnees list" on behalf of their striking family members. Supervisors rang the striking workers that they would sing for them to save them from a terrible fate. [The "returnees list", it was found out, included even the name of the CEO of the Corporation.]


Revisiting the Objectives and Priorities of the KCTU Campaign

The subway workers strike -- in part set in motion by the restructuring
programme involving retrenchment of around 2,100 workers [20% of the workforce] and massive wage and benefit cuts in compliance with the government's directive to all government corporations -- was, from
the very beginning, an integral part of the KCTU-wide general campaign.

KCTU-wide general campaign called for a coordinated sustained action involving strikes and public protest rallies and demonstration. The scheduling of strikes and public actions took the state of each union and federation into consideration. Therefore, the campaign involved strike
by subway workers, metal workers, hospital workers, telecom workers, and various sectors of white collar workers spread along a time span of more than one month.

But the need to protect and support the subway workers' strike began to
over-stretch the organisational resources. For example, unions which were preparing to take action later were asked to strike earlier than scheduled. Another example is the decision, in the early morning of
April 26, of the Korea Telecom Trade Union to call off the strike. The telecom workers and union faced similar kind of restructuring programme as the subway workers due to the unilateral directive from the central government. However, the union was less prepared than the Seoul Subway Workers Union. Over 3,000 telecom workers gathered for a pre-strike rally
on Sunday to await for the final strike decision by the leadership. Just over 2,000 workers succeeded in securing a place to stage their strike sit-in at the Korea University following the rally. The union leaders had to assess that the organisation and members were prepared to
weather the pressure of a strike. The leadership decided going on a strike would be counterproductive to the overall concerns of the organisation, and called of the planned strike.

The broader leadership of the KCTU had to consider what additional gains could be made by continuing with the subway workers strike which was on the eighth day given all the conditions.
An unfortunate conclusion of the strike, the leaders had to consider, jeopardise the success of the KCTU-wide general campaign.

In this context, the leaders of the Seoul Subway Workers Union, the Korean Federation of Transportation, Public & Social Services Unions and the KCTU needed to make a decision on the basis of a clear assessment of the situation and the overall strategy.

It was well recognised that the demands the KCTU had put forward were not
something that can be achieved over night or in a single shot. Furthermore, the KCTU-wide general campaign is also aimed at rebuilding the confidence and capacity of workers and unions who and which
suffered debilitating impact of the first year of the crisis.

One objective of the campaign is to restore confidence in the legitimacy of our own "complaints" and "suffering" caused by the crisis and the IMF-inspired government policies and the legitimacy and feasibility of our "demands", "proposals", and "vision" in response to the current situation. Furthermore, it is aimed at restoring our capacity the take
firm and effective action to put forward and realise our vision.

The situation of the subway workers' strike had to be assessed in the context of KCTU's overall considerations. As a result, the leaders and members came to the conclusion to suspend the strike, return to work, and reposition within the workplace, to prepare to engage in the future
developments, ready to take strong action when necessary.


Where the Subway Workers and the KCTU Campaign Stands Now

In terms of the Seoul Subway itself, the ball -- so to say -- is now in the hands of the Corporation and the government. The pressure is now squarely on the authorities to respond.
Whether they will go ahead with dismissals as threatened, whether they will arrest and imprison union leaders as if they were criminals, whether they will insist and push through with their restructuring
programme, now that the union has decided to suspend the strike and return the members to work.

The consideration involved in the final decision to suspend the strike of the Seoul Subway Workers Union made clear that the campaign -- the struggle -- KCTU is waging is not -- as the saying goes -- a mile race, but a marathon. And much of the achievement is not awaiting at the
end of the race itself, but obtained -- with acknowledgement or without -- along the way. [This is brought out by a number of cases. Some employers groups are already beginning to talk about the need to refocus the restructuring programme to minimise layoff -- but they refuse to
acknowledge that it is due to the workers' struggle. The government is now beginning to recognise that the initial IMF policy prescription may not have been appropriate -- a point made very clear by the early KCTU critique.]

Following the general assembly of Seoul Subway Workers Union and their "climb down from the hill of the Myongdong Cathedral, KCTU General Campaign Headquarters an expanded central executive committee to plan, coordinate, and carry out the campaign activities met to prepare for post-subway-workers-strike plan of activities.


The Renewed Determination

On April 27, 1999, KCTU held a press conference to declare the resolution, affirmed by the leaders' meeting held the previous night, to push ahead its campaign as originally planned. The statement read out by KCTU president Lee Kap-yong asked, "is it a criminal act to take the last
possible action available to workers to call on the government to begin a
dialogue and negotiation? Is it a crime to cry out that the current restructuring which is understood only in terms of mass layoff is destroying the lives of people and will bring about a massive
disintegration of the society? Is it a crime to call for the reduction of
working hours to share work and to avoid depriving people of work? Is it a crime to call for a comprehensive system of relief and livelihood guarantee for the unemployed?"

The statement went on the denounce the government's submissiveness to the
illusive ghost of "international confidence" and the dictate of the IMF and the powerful economic interests -- including foreign governments and business -- which lies at the background of its obstinate rejection or fear of the workers' demand for dialogue and negotiation. It condemned the government's open door policy to the chaebols chiefs who were the main cause of the crisis.

The statement charged, "the fundamental cause of the current crisis and
situation in Korea stems from the pattern of government practice now loyally pursued by President Kim Dae Jung.
The current government is concerned only about appeasing the powerful foreign interests -- governments and business -- and winning over the chaebols with favouritism and crude threats while (or on the basis of) excluding the working people and repressing their actions and
organisations."

The statement described the current government attitude towards the KCTU's demands is just an extension of the 'traditional' government practice -- established by military dictatorships -- of
total and repressive disregard for people and ideological unwillingness to allow domestic process of social dialogue, participation, and empowerment.

The statement reiterated and clarified the main objective of the KCTU campaign.
"We shall continue our struggle without end to force a change in the mind of President Kim Dae Jung who believes the mass retrenchment-oriented restructuring and union-busting undertaken by Thatcher and Reagan are THE model for Korea to follow."

KCTU resolved that the original campaign programme will be undertaken without change. As a result, on April 27, the Daewoo Shipbuilding Workers Union continued its indefinite strike and workers at the Hanbo Steel and Dongyang Aluminum began a two day strike. And Korea Heavy Industry workers began their strike in the afternoon to last for at least one
and a half days.
Workers at Daelim Motors walked off work from 4 p.m. On April 28, they will be joined by four hour strike by the Daewoo Heavy Indsutry Workers Union, Daewoo Motors Workers Union, and workers at the Daewoo Precision Industry. Workers at the Hyundai Precision Industry Korea Heavy Industry Changwon Plant will strike for two hours, while the Daelim Motors Workers
Union will hold a workstoppage general assembly of members.

On April 27, the metal workers were joined by 3,000 members of the University Employees Union who struck for one day.

On April 28, the Korean Federation of Transport, Public & Social Services Labour Unions is expected to take 60 unions with a total of 30,000 members out on a strike. On the same day, the workers at the Hilton Hotel and Samshin Life Insurance are scheduled to take a half a day strike. The Seoul Branch of the National Hospital Workers Union -- a national union of workers at hospitals and medical industry -- will also strike on April 28.


Preparing for the Second Wave

The series of strike is aimed at building up the KCTU-wide campaign toward a mammoth May Day rally in Seoul. KCTU plans to organise a largest ever May Day rally this year to set the momentum for the second wave of its campaign in May. The May second wave campaign is expected to be led by a national-scale strike by the Korean Metal Workers Federation, the
largest affiliate of the KCTU.
1999 / -0 / 4-
뉴스센터   nuovo@hanimail.com


 
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