Korean labor losing as radical tactics backfire, alienate public

Economy

Published: 05 Dec. 2022, 17:56 Updated: 05 Dec. 2022, 19:40

Korean labor losing as radical tactics backfire, alienate public

KCTU members rally in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido on Dec. 3. [YONHAP]

Labor is buckling under government pressure, with workers and unions declining to follow efforts by militant organizers to foment more strikes.

Unionized truck drivers have been on strike since Nov. 24 demanding higher wages and an extension of support measures, and the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has been pushing for others to walk off their jobs in support of the truckers.

Younger workers are balking at more radical tactics, especially those that inconvenience the public, and the general mood is against the 80s-style provocations of the KCTU.

Subway workers were the first to give in, walking off the job for only a day and returning to work shortly before rush hour last Thursday. The union representing them is led by people born between 1980 and 2000, often called the MZ generation.

“It was the MZ generation labor union workers that ended the political strike,” said Chung Jin-suk, the interim chief of the People Power Party, adding that they are replacing those who came into power following the labor movements in the 1980s.

According to local reports, the subway workers went on strike following a visit by representative of the KCTU, the more radical of Korea's two largest labor federations, even as they were on the verge of reaching an agreement with management.

After public criticism of the strike, subways workers not under the KCTU agreed to a deal and that brought to an end to the walkout.

“The workers were fed up with the unreasonable political strife led by the KCTU,” said Song Si-young, head of the Allbaleun union.

Public fears of heavy crowds following the Itaewon crowd crush, which claimed nearly 160 lives, were also cited as another reason for the end of the strike.

Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) was next, canceling a strike even before it started with an agreement reached early Friday morning after overnight negotiations.

The failure of these efforts comes just days after some Posco Holdings workers split with a union under the KCTU. They said that the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, which is associated with the KCTU, made efforts only for itself and not for the workers.

According to press reports, the workers were upset that the union had not done more to help Posco when it faced trouble when furnaces were shut down over the summer due to Typhoon-related damage.

“It’s the people’s decision to cut the loss with a labor union that only causes harm,” Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Land Won Hee-ryong wrote in a social media post on Dec. 1.

“The majority of the workers in the production field have decided to refuse to be at the forefront of a union group that only causes civil harm,” the minister wrote.

“The labor union under the KCTU has made the major mistake of basically failing to read the public’s sentiment,” said Shin Se-don, Sookmyung Women’s University’s economics professor.

There is a growing sense that KCTU's militant attitude is not helping, especially during times of economic difficulty.

“As the impact is spreading to other industries and affecting the daily lives of people, the strike is not only losing its momentum but also its justification,” said a government official with the land, infrastructure and transport ministry.

A steel ball shot by a union truck driver struck on the windshield of a non-union truck in Busan on Nov. 26. [YONHAP]

Violent acts allegedly committed by union members may have also played a role.

Busan police on Sunday applied for an arrest warrant for three union truckers regarding the firing of steel balls at two non-union truckers in Busan on Dec. 26 with a sling shot. One of the metallic balls shattered a front windshield and injured a driver.

A trucker was indicted for throwing a lighter at a moving non-union truck in Busan on Nov. 29, while two others were indicted on charges of resisting arrest.

Heavy cargo truckers earning 5 million won a month has also raised some eyebrows, as that's more than the median income for laborers, which was 3 million won a month in 2021.

The cargo truck driver union claims that when excluding the additional expenses, such as fuel, the monthly income is actually 3 million won.

KCTU political demands are not helping and tend to turn young people off the unions associated with the organization.

“Why is the KCTU arguing for the abolishment of the National Security Act and the withdrawal of the U.S. army in Korea?” one person asked in a post on social media. “What have these to do anything with laborers?”

Despite the government's strong stance against the union truckers, President Yoon Suk-yeol’s ratings have been unaffected.

According to q Gallup Korea survey conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, 31 percent of the 1,000 people who answered support Yoon. That’s 1 percentage point up from the previous week.

The biggest reasons for support were “fairness, justice and principles,” at 12 percent, followed by diplomacy and labor dispute handling, at 8 percent.

The National Barometer Survey found that 58 percent of those asked were against the trucker strike, especially as it is expected to have a negative impact on the economy. Some 34 percent were in favor, saying collective action is justified.

The government so far estimates the damages caused by the strike at 1.1 trillion won in the steel industry and 1.6 trillion won in the cement, automobile and oil refinery industries.

“At a time when everyone knows that the economy is in a difficult situation, one has no choice but to raise questions as to what kind of effect the strike will have,” said Ha Hun-koo, Asia Pacific School of Logistics professor at Inha University.

BY LEE HO-JEONG, KIM KI-CHAN [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]