By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The police sought an arrest warrant Sunday for Kim Kyung-wook, labor union president for the leading retailer E-Land Group, and 14 other key unionists, on charges of organizing an illegal strike that prevented retailer chains from operating. The police also indicted another 153 union members without physical detention.
The union members went on a sit-in protest at the group's chain outlets in Seoul _ the Homever outlet in Sangam-dong and the New Core outlet in Jamwon-dong _ to protest the massive dismissal of non-regular workers.
The protest at the Homever outlet lasted for 21 days and the strike at the New Core outlet continued for 14 days. Some 7,000 policemen were mobilized to crack down on the protest Friday.
The police took 168 protestors from the two outlets to several police stations and released only five, who were not directly involved in the strike.
About 200 members of the major labor group Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and family members of the protestors denounced the government's use of police force by holding an overnight demonstration.
The police crackdown came after the serial negotiations failed to narrow the differences between the union and management over important issues such as employment security, salaries, upgrading non-regular workers to regular employees and the management's lawsuit against the union.
E-Land laid off more than 900 non-regular employees at Homever and New Core before the country's new labor law, which is intended to protect them, took effect this month, provoking the protest by the union.