Gov't, striking rail workers escalate conflict

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- A weeklong strike by unionized rail workers has
severely crippled the nation's freight and passenger transportation services, but
Korea Railroad's (KORAIL) striking workers and management still remain miles away
from a compromise, officials from both sides said Wednesday.
Adding to the transportation chaos, the Lee Myung-bak government and opposition
parties are intensifying a dispute over the legitimacy of the strike, said the
officials.
About 16,000 members of KORAIL's union went on strike on Nov. 26, following
disputes with management over a restructuring plan to cut pay and reduce staffing
levels.
Since union members walked out, KORAIL has been running trains with non-union
employees of the railway, military personnel and former train drivers.
More than 70 percent of freight trains remained idle Wednesday along with 40
percent of passenger train services, according to KORAIL. Electronics firms and
other manufacturers dependent on air transportation have not experienced any
major problems but other companies that rely heavily on rail transport, such as
cement and coal producers, have been hit hard.
After failing to end the walkout over the weekend, KORAIL Monday filed complaints
against 182 unionists for interfering with business, claiming the illegal strike
has caused about 4.7 billion won (US$4 million) worth of operational damage to
the state-funded company.
The government, meanwhile, declared the strike "illegal," claiming railway
workers' demands for reinstatement of dismissed workers and their opposition to a
government program to downsize and restructure public firms is politically
motivated and thus violates labor laws.
Union officials brought a countersuit against some 60 KORAIL executives, accusing
them of violating a contract that was agreed between labor and management and
firing workers engaged in the walkout.
But KORAIL chief executive Huh Joon-young, a former national police chief,
reaffirmed his hard-line policy, saying the management is not going to give in to
the union's "unreasonable" demands.
Management's refusal to resume negotiations reflects the unyielding policies
against the nation's militant unions by conservative President Lee, who has
pledged to end years of disruptive labor action that he says is undermining South
Korea's competitiveness.
The CEO-turned-president has made no secret of his desire to curb what he views
to be excesses by unions, especially those of public workers who enjoy high
levels of job security.
On his way to attend a regional meeting, Lee visited a crisis control center at
Seoul Station earlier Tuesday. He repeated his policy of showing "no leniency" to
the striking rail workers, noting that setting a bad precedent could do far more
damage than the prolonged strike itself.
As the strike has lasted for a week now, some union members have worried that
disruption of train and freight services would turn the public against the
unionists. But the strike has not lost momentum despite the government's warnings
and threats to arrest union leaders.
About 4,000 workers rallied in central Seoul Wednesday afternoon, calling for the
government and KORAIL to stop oppressing legitimate labor activity.
"As the strike is prolonged, voices are rapidly growing over the safety of
trains," union official Lee Chung-ryul said at the rally. "The matter cannot be
resolved through suppression. Given the opportunities to talk, we will open all
possibilities to resolve the strike."
In a joint news conference on Tuesday, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun as well
as four other ministers urged the striking workers to return to work, saying
paralysis of the country's railroads could deal a "fatal injury" to the country's
trade-dependent economy that has yet fully recovered from the global economic
downturn.
The statement came after police launched a pre-dawn raid at the Seoul offices of
the KORAIL union. Investigators said they were searching for 15 union leaders who
have been on the run, with search warrants issued for questioning over
allegations of impeding business by what authorities have called the illegal
strike. Union officials have said they will refuse to accept the summons.
In a show of support for the struggling union, representatives from four
opposition parties, including the Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor
Party, released a joint statement late Wednesday to urge the government to halt
suppression of unions and the labor movement.
"President Lee personally has made tough remarks urging public companies to make
no concession to the labor unions. Besides, government officials, police and the
prosecution were all called out to condemn the legitimate exercising of labor
rights," the statement said.
"We express deep concern about the government's suppression of labor unions and
its labor policies aimed at crushing the labor movement. The most immediate need
for the government is to have dialogue with the labor union and actively
arbitrate talks (between union and management) to resolve the conflict," it said.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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