[Opinion] Flaunting Strike Faded Unions

The Labor Minister Kim Ho-Jin defined at a press conference yesterday the strike of the Korean Air pilots as a `Mutant Strike.` It is a criticism on the twisted and un-fixed pattern of the Korean labor disputes.

The strike of the KAL union has revealed every potential side effect that could be drawn by `the audacious strike.` The union requested the downsizing of the foreign pilots and the equal participation of the labor side to the consultative council of the navigation regulations. The National Labour Relations Commission judged that, since they are not related to the labor condition, those requests are not objects of the labor disputes.

Therefore, the strike of the KAL pilots was illegal. The settlement of the negotiation has delayed by the problems of the civil and criminal responsibilities of the unionist leaders for the illegal strikes even after they agreed on the labor issues. However, the legal punishment to the union leader seems inevitable. Thus, the strike seems to end up with the inconvenience of the citizens as well as the damage of union.

A labor expert said that the union raised the issue of safe operation to escape from the blame that the large income earners are greedier and the trick was counterproductive.

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is rumored to have mobilized the pilot unions of the Korean Air to show off the power of the Union. And KCTU did not deny it. However, many people do not understand the strike of the large income earners. A taxi driver blurted, ``Isn`t the strike for the poor?``

Experts are worried about the situation that the rich become richer and the poor become poorer even in the labor circle. A committee member for the public good of the Tripartite Commission said that the umbrella unions make the larger enterprises stand before ranks for the sake of their powerful influence but their labor condition of the larger enterprises is relatively better than others. The habitual pattern of the strikes accelerates the abnormal phenomenon. By that, the powerful unions gain more and more while the weak unions are marginalized [even from the strike.]

The requests of KCTU for the protection of the temporary employees and the 5-labor day system are the issues truly for the weak. And it is the responsibility of the umbrella unions to help the small unions that cannot fight alone. However, rather than blaming the governmental power as the suppression without a significant grounds, KCTU needs to show more reasonable postures.

Kim Joon-Seok kjs359@donga.com