Posted July. 02, 2008 08:19,
In February, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Chairman Lee Seok-haeng visited Washington to join hands with the American labor force in protesting against the free trade agreement between the United States and Korea. After meeting with John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, he said they saw eye-to-eye on opposition to the bilateral trade deal and agreed to go all out to block ratification of the deal. At this critical juncture, Lee should leave for Washington again and meet with Sweeney. As he claimed, if the safety of U.S. beef has become the most urgent issue labor unions must deal with, isnt it natural for him to cooperate with American labor unions to address the issue?
The KCTU will wage a general strike Wednesday in protest of the resumption of U.S. beef imports. The nations labor law defines any strikes that are not related to wages or working conditions as illegal. Lee said, Beef infected with mad cow disease can sicken workers and food in school cafeterias can affect children. In this situation, how can one say the beef issue is not related to working conditions? However, for American workers with whom he wants to join forces, steak made of American beef is a dietary staple. And hamburgers with meat patties made of beef from cattle older than 30 months are their favorite lunch. If American labor unions are unaware of a danger that can claim human lives, isnt it Korean labor groups responsibility to awaken them to the danger?
Lee said, The walkout will deal a blow to production, but we will stage it in a way that minimizes impacts on the nations economy. Everyone knows that strikes make factories grind to a halt and this, in turn, causes huge damages to the nations economy. If Lee shows that there is any strike that inflicts minimum impact on the economy, he will qualify for a Nobel Prize for economics. However, chop logic goes nowhere. Yet, as if this were not enough, he went so far as to sing the praises of candlelight vigil rallies, which have morphed into violent political protests, saying, The four spirits candlelight embodies purity, passion, non-violence, and peace, still hold, and we also stick to those spirits.
One may still remember what Lee said in his New Year press conference, We will engage in battles that can lead the nations sovereign credit rating to plummet. Lee said this time when declaring the beef walkout, We will launch a phased walkout just like in baseball. Talk about a walkout addiction. Lees obsession to strike is such that Federation of Korean Trade Unions Chairman Jang Seok-choon criticized him for indulging in a strike once again.
Editorial Writer Park Won-jae (parkwj@donga.com)