Government Gets Tough With Union
Police Raid Korail Union Offices
By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Authorities raided the offices of the Korea Railroad (Korail) union in Yongsan, Seoul, Tuesday morning, with arrest warrants for 15 union officials for organizing an indefinite nationwide strike.
Yongsan police are tracing the whereabouts of the 15, including their leader Kim Ki-tae and have confiscated documents and computer records.
The prosecution and the police have tentatively concluded that the strike is "illegal" and will expedite investigations.
Some 16,000 unionized Korail workers have been on a nationwide walkout since Nov. 26 to protest downsizing and pay cuts.
The prosecution suspects that the strike is politically-motivated to oppose the Lee Myung-bak administration's policy drive for downsizing and pay reductions at state-run enterprises.
President Lee visited the situation room at Korail. Cheong Wa Dae didn't divulge what he said during the meeting, only confirming his visit. Over the weekend, He said that he wouldn't condone any illegal strike when there are tens of thousands of young people still looking for jobs.
Lee presided over an emergency Cabinet meeting of relevant ministries Tuesday ahead of a joint government statement on the strike. The President has called for stern action against the striking public workers, calling their demands "unreasonable and selfish," considering that they have a good level of job security.
The government defined the walkout as "illegal" in an address issued by the relevant ministries at the Gwacheon Government Complex in Gyeonggi Province.
"We urge the Korail union to withdraw from the illegal strike and return to their duties," Strategy and Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said. "The walkout has inflicted severe damage to the economy."
First Vice Minister Lim Chae-min of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that a 40-percent reduction in the operation of cargo trains is resulting in a $6 million loss in exports per day, citing figures from the Korea International Trade Association. Ministers voiced their concerns about the effect the strike would have, particularly on small exporters.
Yoon also confirmed that the government perceived the strike as a protest against the Lee administration's drive to downsize the public sector, which would be a violation of the Labor Law.
"This strike is not about demanding better work conditions. It is aimed at denouncing the government's policies and demanding the reinstatement of dismissed workers, which is outside the legal boundaries of the activities of unionists," Yoon said.
Korail President Huh Joon-young has vowed not to compromise with the unionists, who have demanded a 6 percent pay raise. Korail filed complaints against 182 of them Monday for interfering with business, claiming the illegal strike has caused about 4.7 billion won ($4 million) in operational damage to the company.
As tension mounts between the authorities and the labor sector, the labor ministry decided to shut down the Korea Labor Institute (KLI), a government think tank, due to its union's prolonged strike for over two months.
It is the first state institute to be closed by the government over a labor dispute.
In another crackdown on the labor movement, the police raided a Yeongdeungpo office of a civil servant's union amid controversy over the legitimacy of the union's political activity.
Police are looking into allegations that the union was engaged in illegal activities, including the distribution of leaflets calling for civil servants to join a street protest organized by the country's main umbrella union.