South Korean umbrella union vows to fight for labor law revision

SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- An umbrella labor union on Wednesday declared the start of an all-out fight against a controversial labor law allowing multiple unions in a single workplace, one month ahead of its enforcement.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) demanded the early parliamentary passage of an opposition-proposed revision to the Trade Union Act.
The existing labor law that goes into effect from July 1 will allow more than one union in a single workplace and give the largest of the multiple unions the power to negotiate with management.
The revised bill calls for scrapping the multiple unions system as well as a wage ban on full-time union workers. The so-called "time-off" system that bans wages for full-time union representatives came into force last year.
The labor circle has strongly opposed the law, which it called "malicious" and said aims to suppress union activities. Unionists vowed to make efforts to revise the law.
The FKTU will visit local offices and lawmakers of ruling and opposition political parties this month and explain to them the necessity of a revision to the law, said union officials.
Meanwhile, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the country's two umbrella unions, staged a rally in downtown Seoul on Wednesday and condemned last week's police crackdown on a strike at the auto parts maker Yoosung Enterprise Co.
The Metal Union of the KCTU-affiliated industrial organization said that it has decided to stage a general strike in mid-June in protest of the police intervention.
Thousands of riot police raided the company's factory in Ansan, some 42 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday last week to break up a sit-in by striking workers as the weeklong walkout has crippled the operations of Hyundai and other local automakers and their parts suppliers.
brk@yna.co.kr