LabourStart headline - Source: ITUC

More... (http://www.ituc-csi.org/korean-police-attack-kctu)

Were the BMW plant in South Carolina to organize the response would be much the same.

Umbrella trade union KCTU sets Dec. 28 for a general strike
By Jeon Jong-hwi, Im In-tack and Lee Jung-gook, staff reporters

The Park Geun-hye administration, which has maintained an “uncommunicative and proud of it” approach on contentious social issues, is ramping up its use of force and rejecting dialogue.

In the latest development, police stormed the offices of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on Dec. 22, the fourteenth day of an ongoing strike against railway privatization. It was the first time authorities had been sent into the KCTU since it was legalized in 1999.

The police were there to execute arrest warrants for nine members of the leadership for the Korean Railway Workers’ Union (KRWU), but the individuals in question weren’t there. Instead, the 136 KCTU officials and members who fought back against the police were rounded up and arrested.

After convening an emergency meeting of its central committee, the KCTU declared a “genuine campaign to bring down the Park administration,” with a general strike to start on Dec. 28.

The government’s attack on the KCTU was a signal of how anxious it is to end the KRWU strike, which has drawn out to become the longest in South Korean railway history. As popular support for the anti-privatization strike remains high, the situation appears poised to escalate into a more general anti-privatization campaign in areas like healthcare and education. With the “front lines” of the privatization furor now parked on the railway, the government appears to be trying to break them down as quickly as possible.

Previously, Park called the strike a “groundless action that shows a lack of trust in the government’s promise not to privatize.” Police and prosecutors promised to enforce the law rigorously.

“There seems to have been a strategic decision by the hard line bureaucrats in the Blue House,” said Cho Hee-yeon, a professor at Sungkonghoe University’s graduate school of NGO studies. “Crushing the privatization strike is the only way to keep the unions in check, and they would also be able to push the next phase of their policy.”

“In short, they see it as a great opportunity,” Cho said.

Indeed, unions are among the best organized areas in South Korean society for speaking out on social issues.

Another of the government’s aims is to draw a clear line that extends beyond the KRWU to all members of the labor community who oppose the administration’s policies. While the KCTU, KRWU, and civil society in general have proposed setting up a “social dialogue” framework to address the key issue in the privatization furor - the establishment of a KORAIL subsidiary - the government’s response has instead been an ostentatious use of force. In effect, it has shown that it intends to respond to the debate by putting physical force ahead of dialogue.

“The government should be the ones initiating dialogue,” said a KRWU source on condition of anonymity. “Instead, they’ve issued what amounts to a declaration of war. They refuse to even recognize the body that is the supreme representative of unions, viewing it as an enemy instead.”

Some are saying the administration’s militant response is a reaction to having its legitimacy called into question. From this position, the actions are intended to break a deadlock that has been going for nearly a year since Park took office.

It’s a year that has seen one problem after another for the administration. Already facing a challenge to its legitimacy due to the election interference by the National Intelligence Service and the military’s Cyber Command, it has had to deal with a backlash over backpedaling on its basic old age pension election pledges, the privatization controversy, and charges of “targeting” former Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook.

“These actions come in the context of questions about the administration’s legitimacy, after it emerged that the election that brought it into office was unfair, along with a loss of popular support over the backpedaling on election pledges,” said Catholic University of Korea professor Cho Don-moon.

“They can’t win the people over, and they’re trampling on the right to pursue stability and happiness,” Cho added. “What happened today shows just how weak the administration’s legitimacy is.”

The KCTU’s declaration of a campaign to “bring down the administration” comes two years and one month after the ruling Saenuri Party (NFP) single-handedly pushed the South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement through the National Assembly in Nov. 2011. All that’s left now is a clash between giants.

http://www.thebellforum.com/showthread.php?t=108669

It’s a year that has seen one problem after another for the administration. Already facing a challenge to its legitimacy due to the election interference by the National Intelligence Service and the military’s Cyber Command,

So, the army and the spies back this illegitimate regime - and I guess that means the cops do, too. They go after labor as a way to shut out opposition. This is so telling. And of course labor has no allies anywhere...shit...

So, the army and the spies back this illegitimate regime - and I guess that means the cops do, too. They go after labor as a way to shut out opposition. This is so telling. And of course labor has no allies anywhere...shit...

Calling a general strike on such short notice is confidence, foolishness or desperation.

KORAIL to hire 660 new employees(scabs) as rail strike enters 18th day

Turning to the nationwide rail strike that is now into its 18th day
State-run rail operator KORAIL says it will hire 6-hundred-60 new employees to reduce the strain from the prolonged strike.
Passenger train services are running at about 75 percent of normal levels, while subway services in Seoul have been reduced to 85 percent of regular levels.
At about two p.m. Korea time, KORAIL CEO Choi Yeon-hye was scheduled to visit the Jogyesa Temple in Seoul, to urge four union members holed up there after evading police arrest, to return to work.
The union launched the strike in protest of KORAIL's plan to establish an affiliate for a new high-speed train line, a move it says is the first step toward privatization.
The union has called for rallies throughout the nation on Thursday, and a large-scale protest in Seoul on Saturday.


http://www.thebellforum.com/showthread.php?t=108805

Rail union agrees to end strike
2013/12/30 14:58

Dec. 30 (Yonhap) -- Leaders of unionized rail workers agreed to end their prolonged strike after the ruling and opposition parties promised to form a parliamentary subcommittee aimed at preventing privatization of rail services, lawmakers said Monday.

The union confirmed the agreement, saying there are only internal procedures left before its members return to work, ending the 22-day walkout.

"The union decided to withdraw the strike," Choi Eun-cheol, a spokesman for the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) union, told Yonhap News Agency. "The union will discuss the procedures in detail after looking through the agreement."

The breakthrough came three weeks after some 8,700 workers of KORAIL walked off their jobs on Dec. 9 in protest of a government plan to establish a KORAIL subsidiary to run part of the high-speed train services. The union suspects the move is a precursor to rail privatization.

The government has repeatedly assured workers that it has no intention of privatizing rail services, and promised to revoke the subsidiary's rail service license if its stakes are sold to private sectors. But labor leaders have been skeptical of the assurances.

On Sunday, leaders of the rival parties on the parliamentary transportation committee worked out the breakthrough deal with KORAIL union leader Kim Myung-hwan. The three-point agreement calls for strikers to get back to work as soon as the subcommittee is formed.

The subcommittee's establishment was seen as aimed at backing up the government's assurances of no rail privatization. It provided the union with a face-saving way out of the walkout, as the government has stuck to its no-compromise stance despite disruptions in rail services.

According to the agreement, the "subcommittee on rail industry development" will be composed of the same numbers of lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party. The committee will be headed by the Saenuri Party, it added.

If necessary, a policy advisory panel that includes officials from KORAIL, its union, the government and civilian experts can also be established, it said. The advisory panel will support the subcommittee's work in discussing various thorny issues, it added.



Lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party hold press conference on Dec. 30, 2013 to announce a parliamentary subcommittee aimed at ensuring no privatization of rail services.(Yonhap)
Police and prosecutors, however, said they will still continue pursuing the unions leaders for staging the "illegal" walkout regardless of the dramatic deal reached by the rival parties.

Kim and other several union leaders have been hiding inside Jogye Temple in downtown Seoul after district courts issued arrest warrants for defying summons by prosecutors.

"We will detain KORAIL union leader Kim as soon as he comes out," said a senior police officer.

Prosecutors also reiterated that they will deal with the unauthorized walkout in accordance with the law.

"Those responsible for the illegal acts will be held liable despite a decision to withdraw the walkout," a prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, adding that the prosecution office will execute the arrest warrants as well.

After two investigative authorities vowed to continue with the investigation, KORAIL union said that its leaders will not yet respond to police summons.

"There were no discussions yet about KORAIL union leader Kim voluntarily appearing before the police for questioning," said a union official. "He will hold a press conference later in the day at a safe location."

The longest-ever rail strike in the country's history has affected bullet-train KTX service as well as other passenger and cargo train operations nationwide.

KORAIL was forced to cut passenger train services by around 24 percent for more than a week, it said. The daily amount of cargo shipments has also dropped to an average of 30 percent of the normal volume.

In response, the management previously vowed to punish 490 union leaders for their involvement in the strike, adding that it will take legal actions to seek compensation for financial damages.

The standoff heated up on Friday night when the government issued a formal license for a new affiliate to operate the new high-speed line from Suseo-dong in Seoul to the southern port city of Busan.

(END)

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/12/30/64/0301000000AEN20131230002853315F.html

'End', indeed. This ain't no compromise, it's a beat-down.

I can only guess that the union overestimated public support and was left high and dry. Public service unions will always have this problem, their inability to be really radical is the only reason that they have survived as well as they have until recently, they are not a threat and will never maintain public support in prolonged action.