Monday, October 24, 2005

Whither Tripartitism: Part 2

Changes are underway in the Korean labor movement today, as a new ad hoc executive commitee has formed in the wake of Lee Soo Ho' resignation (check here and here at the Korea Herald).

Though not oppossed to tripartite negotiation per se, the KCTU's new interim charman Jun Jae-hwan, from the Metal Intustry Trade Union, has said that he sees no point in rejoining the tripartite committee for as long as the government sticks to its labor reform plans (an issue you can read more about on our blog here, or here at the le monde diplomatique).

As for relations between the nation's two labour federations, the KCTU and the FKTU, it will be interesting to see if they continue to plan joint actions or if they begin to diverge in tactics and strategy -- for those interested in some of debate around different strategies pursued by Korean labour see this working paper by Kevin Gray.

In other Korean labour news, truckers are planning on going out on an illegal strike wednesday, as the number of non-regular workers active in the economy continues to rise one wonders if this sort of action will continue.

Update ----October 27, 2005 ---- The two truckers unions, Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union postponed their decision on a general strike yesterday until after it holds a vote on a government-brokered deal on Monday.
Meanwhile, dump truck drivers, who are part of a larger construction workers union, decided to end their strike Tuesday after union members voted to end their strike that started on Oct. 13 -- I don't think they got an agreement, however. Both unions are part of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Was wondering whether you'd given up blogging to concentrate on real work (as I should be). Anyway, keep it up. I'm no good at all at following what's going on in the Korean labour movement.

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  2. Yeah, I've been reading in the "cave" for too long now. Only a few more weeks to go, but I've got most of it done, so I'll trying to write more these days. I have to admit, my updates have been pretty sloppy these days.

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