By Lee Hyo-sik
Unionized subway workers’ decision to break away from a radical labor umbrella group and establish an alternative organization is expected to shake up the landscape of the nation’s labor movement.
Seoul Metro Workers’ Union said last Friday that 95 percent of its 8,900 unionized workers participated in a ballot on whether to withdraw from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) with 53 percent of them voting for the proposal.
The labor union of Seoul Metro, the operator of subway lines 1-4, made it clear that it will distance itself from a politically-motivated and often violent labor campaign.
Instead, it will likely opt to focus more on improving workers’ welfare and providing community services.
The unionized workers decided to set up an alternative labor umbrella group in cooperation with other unions in July.
If established, it will become a third major labor group on top of the nation’s two major umbrella groups, KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU).
“The current labor movement has turned into a tool for leaders of the two major umbrella unions to protect their vested rights and sell politically-biased agendas. This should end immediately,” the union said in a statement. “We will launch a labor campaign to benefit unionized workers, laborers and the general public, while creating a win-win solution for all members of society without causing conflict.”
Seoul Metro was a key member of KCTU. In the past, the subway workers union, supported by KCTU, waged a series of turbulent strikes against the management, disrupting subway operations and causing inconvenience to passengers in and around Seoul.
But workers have become tired of the volatile union leadership and the KCTU, which they said are more interested in promoting their political propaganda than the welfare and concerns of workers.
In 2010 a total of 23 labor unions with 6,400 members withdrew from KCTU. This year three unions, including those of KT and Hyundai Heavy Industries, have severed ties with the umbrella group so far.
Chung Yeon-soo, head of Seoul Metro Labor Union, said the alternative umbrella group, tentatively named “New Hope,” will be launched in July after securing more than 200,000 members.
“The envisioned organization will be run by ordinary union members, not by leaders. We expect a large number of unions to join us down the road,” he said.
Chung said unions of state-run enterprises in provincial areas, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and KT will be New Hope’s founding members.
“We will encourage workers of companies with no labor union, including Samsung and POSCO, to join us in advancing Korea’s labor movement,” he said.
Unlike a massive rally in downtown Seoul organized by KCTU and FKTU for Labor Day, which fell on May 1, Seoul Metro workers engaged in a range of volunteer activities for neighborhood communities.
Besides the two umbrella groups, the Migrant Trade Union and other labor-related organizations held rallies in Seoul and other cities across the country, protesting the Lee Myung-bak administration’s labor policies and demanding better workers’ rights.