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| Kim Myeong-hwan, chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, talks to reporters in front of the Seoul Southern District Court, Friday, before the court review on an arrest warrant over his alleged involvement in violent rallies. He was arrested later in the evening. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki |
By Lee Suh-yoon
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has pledged an all-out struggle against the government, following the arrest of its Chairman Kim Myeong-hwan, last Friday.
The arrest and the militant umbrella union's response signal yet another low point in the already strained ties between labor and the Moon Jae-in administration. The latter had hoped for talks with the labor sector to settle various labor issues such as the ratification of key conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and a decision on next year's minimum wage.
Kim, former leader of the Korean Railway Workers' Union, was charged with overseeing "illegal" KCTU protests in front of the National Assembly in Seoul in May last year and earlier this year. During the rallies, labor activists clashed with police officers, tearing down fences and plastic shields to get inside the assembly compound to stop anti-labor bills.
Three others in the hardline union were arrested on similar charges recently. The clampdown and arrests of union leaders are hardly novel but they reveal how quickly ties can unravel between the labor sector and President Moon, who promised liberal and worker-friendly reforms when he came to power in May 2017.
The KCTU immediately lashed out at the arrest, saying Kim could not be held responsible for incidents of violence between protesters and police.
"We judge the arrest of the KCTU head as the Moon Jae-in government's ultimate denial of all labor-government relations," the union said in a press statement issued right after the warrant was issued. "The government has announced an end to labor-government ties."
The arrest has upped the stakes in the KCTU's strike planned for next month. The union also pledged to apply its full unified force in the rallies planned for this week and throughout June and July.
The rift between the KCTU and the Moon administration has been growing for months. Unions and labor rights groups accuse the President of not living up to the expectations of a "government born from the candlelight revolution," referring to the massive anti-corruption rallies that took down the former Park Geun-hye administration and brought Moon to power.
President Moon's main campaign promises include raising the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.50), guaranteeing a maximum 52-hour workweek and providing permanent contracts to irregular workers in the public sector. The government has since scaled back plans on all three policies due to ardent opposition from conservative parties and businesses amid stagnant economic figures.
The KCTU turned its back on the administration after seeing how compromises using minimum wage calculation methods and flexible working hour plans veered away from Moon's original promises. Since last year, the umbrella group has repeatedly boycotted its participation in the Economic, Social and Labor Council, the only official three-way dialogue channel between labor, management and government.
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