Welcome to BASE21

KCTU held an urgent meeting of the executive council, composed of the leaders of all its affiliates and regional organisations, to review the preparedness for the April 2, second solidarity general strike.

KCTU's Organising and Industrial Action Office reported to the executive council that a consolidate total of 150,000 members have already resolved to go on the strike. This number does not include those workplace level unions which plan to hold general meeting of members as a part of the KCTU's general strike. If these are included, the number is expected to rise to more than 200,000

The tension is rising on the eve of the second solidarity general strike as the government is preparing to crackdown on the KCTU and the leaders of the striking power workers union.

Government Will Not Tolerate Illegal General Strike:
Labour Minister Bang Leads the Attack

Bang Yong Seok, the Minister of Labour, led the government's salvo on the KCTU at a special press conference on the eve of the general strike. Minister Bang declared, "The government will deal with the KCTU's April 2 general strike in accordance with the law." He explained the reasoning: "The aim of the KCTU's general strike is to support the illegal power workers strike. It has nothing to do with working conditions at individual workplaces." At the same time, he reiterated the government stance towards the power workers strike. "The government's categorical position is that the demand of the power workers union to withdraw the privatisation plan can never be tolerated." (Reuters' dispatch)

The Labour Minister's lead was taken up by the Public Prosecutors Office. The Public Security Division of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office declared, today, "the second general strike scheduled for April 2 by the KCTU is a clear case of illegal strike which will cause enormous impact on the economy and discomfort to the lives of the people." (Yunhap News Agency dispatch)The spokesperson for the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office revealed a plan to "target the KCTU leaders at the early stage of the strike for prosecutorial action to prevent the spread and continuation of the strike". (Munhwa Ilbo, website)

The Myongdong Cathedral and the KCTU Office Targeted

The government is known to be considering a plan to send in riot police into the Myongdong Cathedral ground, in the next few days, starting from the late evening of April 1, as the Easter programme at the Cathedral has come to an end. Following the start of the general strike, the prosecutors and police are expected to concentrate on apprehending and arresting Heo Young-koo, the KCTU's acting president and Yang Kyung-kyu, the president of the KCTU's public sector affiliate. The KCTU's national secretariat office has adopted an emergency contingency plan for possible riot police attack on the office, including safeguarding of hard disks of all the office computers and the server.

The General Strike Takes Shape

The solidarity general strike will be led by the Korean Metalworkers Federation, which will bring out the members from the major automobile companies for the general strike, in repeat of the February 26 solidarity general strike. Some 130,000 members from 100 workplaces are expected to lead the way.

The metal workers will have next to them workers from the public sector, teachers, and hospital workers. Some 20,000 members from a total 111 government owned or controlled workplaces, affiliated to the Korean Federation of Transportation, Public & Social Services Workers Unions, will strike in support of the power workers who have been on strike for more than 35 days, since February 25.

More than 10,000 members of the teachers union will take early leave of work on April 2 to join the solidarity strike. The remaining teachers will conduct a special class on the issues of privatisation. The government has reacted to the plan of the teachers union to join the strike solidarity with an extraordinary hostility. The government is reported to have told the journalists that it will take "stern measures against all teachers union members who take part in the strike." The government has already begun to take action, before the start of the strike, against the teachers union, Chunkyojo (KTU).

The Seoul Metropolitan Education Board has withdrawn the job assignment from the KTU's first vice-president and Seoul chairperson of the union. The Incheon Regional Education Board delivered warning letters to all teachers of the region who took part in the last year's teachers' strike (where 20,000 teachers made use of annual leave in October to hold demonstrations). Police has issued summons against the Kyungki Province chairperson and first vice-chairperson for questioning on the last year's "annual leave strike". They are asked to report to police on April 2, the day of the KCTU's solidarity general strike.

Youngdeungpo Police Station issued a similar summons against the teachers' union's president and the union's Seoul regional chairperson. They are expected to report to the police on April 9. Four other officers of the national office are called in for questioning. Similar actions were reported in other provinces and major cities.

Over 10,000 hospital workers from 50 major general hospitals across the country are expected to add momentum to the solidarity general strike. Union branches in over one hundred hospitals are planning to hold general meeting of members or delegates conference on April 2 before calling out the members for the strike.

Strike Programme and the Second Stage Plan

KCTU will organise strike rallies in 22 major cities across the country, where striking workers are expected to join for the demonstration. In Seoul, KCTU's affiliates will hold their own rallies separately before joining together after a march to hold one large strike rally through the major roads in the downtown Seoul. Similar rallies are planned for the second and third day of the strike.

The key moment in the strike will be the long weekend from April 4 to 7. KCTU is expected to call on the government for negotiations over the long weekend. KCTU plans to continue with the strike into its second phase after the long weekend, if the situation is not resolved (and/or if there is massive crackdown on the leaders of the strike).

The second stage of the general strike, beginning from April 8, will focus on the possible strikes by the Korean Railway Workers Union and the KoGas Workers Union, which have on March 29 declared their resolution to strike again in solidarity with the striking power workers.

Further dimension to the second stage of the solidarity general strike is provided by 5 airline industry unions, including the Korean Airline Pilots Union, which have announced at a press conference on April 1, their decision to join the second leg of the general strike.