[Editorial] Kinder, Gentler Unions

Some Hyundai Motor labor union members, who used to call strikes as annual events, have said they will not pursue such energy wasting strikes any more and seek more future-oriented labor movements. About 70 workers at Hyundai promised to seek practical goals such as “employment stabilization and better life quality” and have joined the “Confederation of New Trade Unions.” Workers who want to be part of this movement reportedly account to 1,000.

The Hyundai Motors labor union criticized anti-FTA strikes by some rigid labor union members who followed the general strike guidelines of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). They also blamed their movement as “a political act which overstepped limits.” The fact that these assessments came from a union that has a record of 12 years of consecutive strikes is good news, hinting that changes in the labor movement are likely in the future.

Lee Young-Deuk, chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, participated at the National Investor Relations (IR) meeting and supported the attraction of foreign investment.

As corporations that cannot tolerate labor management disputes and high wages any more leave the country, jobs will shift overseas, thus shrinking the size of labor unions as a result. If more and more workers stop seeking their vested rights and protest over socialist ideological issues, they can contribute to economic development, job creation and better life quality for workers.

Some labor union executives of Hyundai Heavy Industries who took a view of U.S. labor union scenes in firms like General Motors reported, “In the U.S., labor unions just realized their mistakes after the corporations collapsed.” Labor unions cannot exist any more if the corporations shut down. The Hyundai Heavy Industries Labor Union, which withdrew from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU) and carried cooperative labor-management into practice afterwards, wrote in its report, “We don’t have any time to waste on political strikes or rallies.”

Labor unions of conglomerates, which started as groups to aid in the struggle against authoritarian government, have taken big portions of shares for themselves that are incomparably bigger than unions in smaller firms. It is time for them to consider the overall economy of the country and seek a mature and moderate labor movement. We expect that the Confederation of New Trade Unions (newly launched last September), workers who sympathize with its vision and the KCTU will seek new labor movements that can get support from public.