By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Union members of KT, the nation's largest telephony carrier, voted Friday to quit the nation's largest umbrella union, a move that will significantly undermine leadership of the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
KT was the KCTU's third largest member with 28,000 members, following automakers Hyundai and Kia.
Other unions could follow suit as the KCTU has been accused of ``politically oriented'' labor campaigns rather than seeking ways to provide better welfare to its members, labor experts said.
Of 27,018 eligible voters, 25,647 or 97.3 percent voted in favor of the withdrawal, KT said ㅡ additionally, nearly 98 percent of them supported the proposal of merging the unions of KT and its affiliate KTF, the nation's second largest mobile telephony carrier.
In a statement issued after the vote, the KT union said, ``We humbly respect the result reflecting our members' hopes of shifting labor campaigns from politically oriented ones to those serving the needs of our members.''
KT said it will maintain political neutrality and concentrate on achieving better working conditions.
``One of the most urgent issues is how to rescue the ailing information-technology (IT) industry and non-regular workers at risk of being laid off,'' said Huh Jin, an executive of the KT union.
The KCTU dismissed the possibility of ``domino withdrawals.''
``We have 800,000 members in total, meaning KT's withdrawal will have little impact,'' a KCTU official said. ``This will be an opportunity for the remaining members to be more firmly united.''
The move comes after several other unions severed their ties with the umbrella organization.
Unions of four large construction companies quit the KCTU in May, followed by the 49 unions representing container terminal workers in June.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr