By Moon Gwang-lip
Staff Reporter



Heads of two umbrella union groups - Lee Soo-ho, right, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and Lee Yong-deuk, president of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) - call for the resignation of Labor Minister Kim Daehwan over policy failures during a joint media conference at the KCTU headquarters in Yoido, Seoul, Thursday.
/Yonhap
Trade unions are drifting toward a head-on clash with the government after they failed to reach an agreement on a set of thorny labor issues, including a non-regular worker bill, last month.
The voting on the bill, suspended three times since it was presented to the National Assembly last November, was delayed again due to growing protests from unionists.

On Wednesday, the Minimum Wage Council agreed to raise the minimum wage by 9.2 percent in September.

But hard-line unionists walked out of a negotiation meeting and refused to accept the increase, claiming that it is too low to ensure the livelihood for low-income earners.

Unionists were already angry over the death of a union official, which took place on June 14 during a rally to call for better working conditions for non-regular workers.

Against this backdrop, the nation’s two umbrella labor groups _ the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) _ launched a joint signature-collecting campaign on Thursday to demand Labor Minister Kim Dae-hwan to step down and take responsibility for failed policies.

``We are witnessing more failure in government labor policies. Fundamental changes are needed,’’ said KCTU president Lee Soo-ho and FKTU president Lee Yong-deuk when they began the campaign.

``The government and the ruling party have tried to pass the non-regular worker bill, turning a deaf ear to unions and setting the minimum wage level one-sidedly,’’ they said.

``We are also disappointed with the way the government dealt with the death of the union official; it should prevent such tragedies. We see that all of these cases have aggravated government-labor relations,’’ they added.

Kim Tae-hwan, head of FKTU’s Chungju branch, was helping mixer truck drivers hold a strike on June 14 in front of a contractor’s cargo when he was run over by a truck driven by a replacement who was trying to get into the cargo.

Since his death, labor unions have raised the issue of non-regular workers, such as truck mixer drivers, and pressured the government to improve their working conditions.

On Thursday, representatives of the FKTU, the nation’s largest umbrella union group, threatened to go on an indefinite general strike over the government’s ``anti-labor’’ stance on July 7.

They are now on a nationwide tour to encourage workers to join the planned walkout.

The KCTU has also staged rallies across the country to denounce the government for its policy flops.

Meanwhile, the government and the ruling party are also retreating from the negotiation efforts, blaming the labor community for its ``extreme’’ moves.

Rep. Rhee Mok-hee, Uri Party lawmaker and chairman of the subcommittee of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee, criticized lawmakers of the progressive Democratic Labor Party (DLP) blockading a room where a committee meeting was scheduled.

``We can’t help delaying the deliberation of the non-regular worker bill again due to blockage by the pro-labor party. Their move only did harm to non-regular workers, because those workers are left vulnerable without any protection measure,’’ Rhee said Tuesday.

Labor ministry officials also criticized labor unions, saying, ``The postponement of the legislation will end up inflicting more harm to non-regular workers.’’

The government-initiated bill was drawn up last September in a bid to protect non-regular workers and ensure labor market flexibility.

However, the bill has sparked strong protests from labor groups claiming that it would lead to an increase in the number of non-regular workers and only serves employers’ interests.

Labor experts think that all three parties _ labor, management and government _ should be blamed for the aggravating situation.

``The government and the ruling party are pushing ahead with their one-sided labor policies, refusing to negotiate with the labor. Employers only focus on protecting their own interests, even when workers are in a fiercer battle against the government,’’ a Korea Labor Institute senior researcher said.

``Labor unions are also refusing to compromise. They pay little attention to problems such as non-regular workers and recent union-related corruption scandals. In this situation, a general strike will only get the public’s antipathy,’’ he added.

joseph@koreatimes.co.kr