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The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on Tuesday said it will launch a general strike on Wednesday demanding a renegotiation of the Korea-U.S. beef import accord. The more militant of Korea¡¯s two union umbrellas said the strike would begin with rallies in front of City Hall in Seoul and across the country at 6 p.m. Tuesday and strikes would intensify over time.
The KCTU stated four reasons behind the strike: opposing U.S. beef imports, resisting the privatization of public enterprises, demanding government measures to help the public cope with rising consumer prices, and an end to the cross-Korea canal. While these are to varying degrees political hot potatoes, none is the concern of the KCTU under the remit set by the labor law.
The KCTU last launched a general strike a year and a half ago, then opposing a new law on temporary workers.
On Thursday, the KCTU will hold simultaneous candlelight vigils across the country organized by its 16 regional headquarters, and it plans overnight protests in Seoul on Friday and Saturday with members from across the nation converging on the capital. To focus on the general strike, the KCTU leadership has ordered a temporary halt to blockades by truck drivers that have been going on since April 26 at 12 cold-storage facilities in Gyeonggi Province storing U.S. beef.
The KCTU held a vote between May 10 to 29 on whether to hold the general strike. Turnout was 53.1 percent of the KCTU¡¯s 630,283 members at 568 individual unions. Of those, 69.7 percent, or 233,299, supported the general strike.
The Korea Employers Federation said the strike is illegal since it is politically motivated and based on issues unrelated to labor conditions, and called on businesses to deal firmly with workers who take part. The Ministry of Labor has also asked regional labor administrations across the country to persuade unionized workers not to join the strike to avoid being penalized.
The ministry pointed out that the separate company unions that became the Korean Metal Workers¡¯ Union originally vowed to address the widening income gap and the disadvantages faced by non-regular workers. Opposing U.S. beef imports, by contrast, ¡°is a political issue and does not fit the KMWU¡¯s original goals,¡± it added.
Meanwhile, the Hyundai Motor chapter of another organization, the Federation of Korean Metal Workers¡¯ Trade Unions, which is under the more moderate Federation of Korean Trade Unions umbrella, is also readying itself for industrial action, saying Tuesday it will not work overtime or weekends until annual collective bargaining is finished.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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