Rail Workers’ Retreat

Lee's One-Sided Views Leave Room for Future Turmoil

Unionized railway and subway workers put off their planned strikes Thursday, avoiding what could otherwise escalate into another labor-government clash.

It may be too early, however, for the management of Korea Railroad Corp. (Korail) to rejoice over the union leaders' virtual surrender, considering the seething discontent among rank and file unionists with both the result and process of the negotiations.

The Korail union and its underground ally, the Seoul Metro union, agreed on compromised wage hikes and effectively accepted the management's restructuring programs to gradually shed their workforce ``under consultation" with the union. For any neutral watchers, this is a near complete defeat for labor, reflecting the waning unionism here.

Behind the union's decision is a combination of factors. First, the effect of strikes has sharply weakened, as a new law calls for striking unions to provide minimum public services. Second, the public sector unions couldn't help being aware of hostile public sentiment had they pushed ahead with the walkout, causing inconvenience to millions of commuters in these economically difficult times.

Third, the government has stepped up its pressure against union leaders, threatening to sternly deal with any illegal strikes in strict accordance with ``law and principles," as President Lee Myung-bak is emphasizing even during his overseas tour.

Lee may as well feel seriously threatened by the rail workers' strike, which, if realized, would be the first massive industrial action since he took office, dampening his hopes for early economic recovery and placing obstacles in the way of the government's public sector reform programs, including the privatization of many state enterprises.

This notwithstanding, President Lee's repeated remarks on labor-management relationship make one wonder whether he is the nation's top leader or a 1970s-style construction company CEO.

Lee categorized the scheduled strikes of Korail union as illegal, as the latter touched on the reinstatement of 46 workers dismissed three years ago. This is quite problematic, because revisiting the issue was part of a 2006 agreement between labor and management. The President also cites the labor law, which limits the cause of strikes to strictly monetary and welfare issues, a provision many international organizations, including the International Labor Organization, have called for a revision of. If and when the workers' job security itself is at stake, how can they mind anything else?

Even Labor Ministry officials are conceding it is not against the law for public corporations to strike as long as they perform essential levels of duty, saying the President's comments should be understood as a ``subjunctive mood." In other words, the chief executive was numerously reaffirming to punish strikers' ``unrealized illegality in the future."

The President should remain neutral in labor affairs, even when state companies are involved, calling for conflicting sides to maintain dialogue no matter what. One can't help but wonder what Lee's host, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union leader, might have thought about his guest and overall labor situations on the other side of the planet.

U.S. President Barack Obama, not just during and after campaigns, has always had the American workers and their interests on his lips. A possible reopening of Korea-U.S. free trade agreement was not just a campaigning rhetoric, as President Lee downplayed, but a real promise for ``American workers." When will Korea have a president who puts workers ― his people in other words ― ahead of big businesses, public or private?