The arteries in our workplace are hardened. "In departments where we couldn't recruit new employees, it is common for the age gap between the lowest rank and his seniors to be more than 10 years," said Posco chairman Lee Ku-tack. The retirement age at Hyundai Heavy Industries is 57 and the average age of the employees is 43. Workers in their 50s who entered the company 30 years ago are in charge of steel welding and assembly - work that is trying, even to those in their 20s and 30s. "If business goes well, we could hire more people and increase wages, but if it doesn't, it's natural to reduce manpower," says Kwon Hyuk-cheol, policy analyst at the Center for Free Enterprise. "Depending on the business situation, if no one is fired, no one is hired."

As of this month, the current owner of the Hyundai Motor factory is the labor union. The union members operate the production line, have the authority to stop it and make decisions about capacity and how to arrange the workers. Take the production lines for the Grandeur XG and Santa Fe. Being Hyundai's most popular models these days, they give the company much of its work. It would be nice if Hyundai could transfer some of its employees from other, less busy production lines to increase production speed. But the company cannot do anything about it without "permission" from the labor union.

Employees who work on unbusy production lines fill their spare time doing odd jobs like cleaning the factory or pulling up weeds outside. Four hundred labor union delegates wearing red vests hardly work at all - they do work for the union in the name of "site directors." And they are paid a total of 20 billion won ($17 million) a year. Of course, the 90 full-time labor union members designated by labor laws only work for the union. "These days, the labor union delegates are kings," sighs Kim Dong-jin, president of Hyundai Motor. "Nothing can be done without it having to pass through their fingers."

Hyundai Motor recruited 765 people last year as irregular employees. After firing 8,000 in 1998 due to the foreign exchange crisis, the recruitment was the first in four years. The carmaker cannot fire a person until he reaches the retirement age of 58. On the other hand, temporary positions are based on contracts that can be terminated. Temporary workers are usually assigned jobs that are avoided by permanent workers. However, they only receive a fourth of the wages. An employee of a car parts manufacturer in Ulsan said, "The labor aristocrats oppress the laborers."

Two years ago, the Korea Electric Power Corporation went on strike to oppose the government's privatization plan for the company. At the time, the vice commerce minister was Lee Hee-beom. He recalls an all-night marathon negotiation session with the labor union members. "After we came out having finished the negotiations, I could not forget the sight of the labor union representatives leaving in luxury cars driven by chauffeurs," he said.

At Orion Electrics, the head of the picture tube industry until the 1990s, the company began offering voluntary retirement opportunities when it fell on rough times. However, the labor union refused to allow payroll cuts and went on strike for two months. As a result, Orion totally collapsed.

The sale of Daewoo Motor also fell apart several times because the labor union opposed employee reductions after its bankruptcy. Before taking over the company, first Ford and then General Motors requested that personnel be cut, but the labor union fought back with strikes. In the end, GM bought Daewoo after 7,000 people were laid off.

Professor Choi Kyung-su at the Korea Development Institute says, "The government should allow companies to be free to dismiss workers but provide protection for the survival rights of the workers, in ways such as extending the term for unemployment financial support."