Workers’ rights fade in glare of Nobel halo

Peace Prize winner Kim Dae Jung’s government is brutally suppressing lawful activities by unions protesting against the structural adjustment programme

Arrests, police hunts and dismissals are all in a day's work for worker's unions in South Korea, a country whose President was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize not too long ago. Locked in a bitter struggle to defend their jobs against the economic restructuring programme pushed by the government - a plan that has already resulted in the laying off of thousands of workers - hundreds of workers and trade unionists in South Korea face the risk of incarceration. The unjust application of labour-related laws in order to deal with industrial disputes and conflicts has further isolated the workers and trade unions.

Against the backdrop of the economic slump, the squabble over wages and jobs has been deemed unwarranted and undignified. Kim Dae Jung's presidency, ringed with the Nobel aura, has moreover lulled human rights campaigners and observers into happy complacency.

Kim's credentials as a peacemaker have long diverted world attention from the fact that more trade unionists - 600 at last count - have been incarcerated in the three-and-a-half years of his leadership than during the time of his predecessor. In 1998, the first year of President Kim's administration, 209 unionists were arrested of which a dozen were put on trial for organising strike action. The government has since continued to demonstrate an anti-labour attitude, discounting workers' demands for better work conditions, social security and industrial safety.

Most disconcerting however is the government's brutal response to lawful protests by the workers. On 10 April 2001, 500 Daewoo workers were attacked by 1,000 riot police officers. Earlier that morning, the Inchon District Court had ruled that Daewoo Company should allow Daewoo auto workers, members of the Daewoo Union, part of the Korean Metal Workers Federation, an affiliate of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), to enter their union offices located inside the Daewoo Pupyong plant.

As soon as the workers arrived at the plant, they were confronted by 500 riot police officers. Although a lawyer representing the Daewoo union and a court bailiff showed the court decision to the police chief, the workers were refused access to their offices. Despite the efforts by the members of the National Assembly, who were there to support the Daewoo workers, the police chief was steadfast in his refusal to allow the workers to enter the plant. At this point, a reinforcement of 400 riot police arrived at the scene. Shortly afterwards, the Daewoo workers began to start a peaceful protest over the police action by lying down on the streets. A few minutes later, the police chief ordered an attack on the workers. Within 30 minutes, hundreds of riot police using shields and batons cracked down. Fifty workers were injured including 20 who were beaten so severely that they had to be hospitalised.

The Daewoo incident is one in a series of brutal government-sanctioned police acts, from the attack on striking workers at the Kwangju Carrier plant on 1 May 2000 to the storming of protesting workers and their families at the Hyosung synthetic fibre plant in Ulsan in June 2001 and the harsh prison sentence for Shin Kwang-Hoon, a member of the Korea Social Insurance Union, who was held for driving a sound-truck during a rally on 31 March 2001.

In the recent past, several protesting trade unions have faced government-sanctioned repression. However the repression has intensified since the KCTU launched a campaign of ‘coordinated strikes’ on 12 June 2001. Coordinated strikes involve the grouping together of enterprise-based trade unions in sectional federations which then strike work separately but simultaneously. The June strikes were in support of a six-point set of demands aimed at countering trends that the KCTU claimed were “designed to favour capital (investors, employers, business) rather than labour.” The demands include an end to the structural adjustment drive and the halting of retrenchment, a reduction in working hours (a five-day work week), expansion of the public medical system, the public education system and abolition of the National Security Law (NSL). The NSL is frequently used, often indiscriminately to arrest people for exercising their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association. More often than not these arrests are carried out on the pretext that they pose a threat to state security. Though amended several times in the past, the law remains vague and broadly defined.

Several campaigns in the past, organised and led by the KCTU, have highlighted the anti-labour attitude of the government. The most shocking illustration of the government's stance was the imprisonment of KCTU president Dan Byung-ho in August 2001.

In July 2001, an agreement was reached between the KCTU and the government that Dan would turn himself in to serve out the remainder of his previous sentence of three months and four days suspended in a Presidential amnesty in 1999. The agreement was expected to resolve months of hostilities between the KCTU and the government. In an agreement between a Catholic mediator and the government, the government agreed to ease up on the arrest of KCTU activists and to waive any new charges against Dan for his ‘crime’ of leading the KCTU campaigns in 2001. However, on 28 September 2001, a 100 hours before his expected release from prison, the prosecution issued fresh charges against Dan and obtained a warrant to further detain him for investigation and trial. The warrant was obtained with Presidential consent.

Ever since the government has continued to deny that there was a “dialogue” and “agreement” with the KCTU. Dan Byung-ho is still in prison. His incarceration is a gross violation of his rights to freedom of expression and association, enshrined in international human rights law as well as in the Korean Constitution. Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Republic of Korea has been party since April 1990, guarantees the right to freedom of association. Article 21 of the ICCPR protects the right of free assembly, and Article 22 of the Covenant specifically protects the right to freedom of association, including the right to form and join trade unions. These rights can only be restricted in accordance with law in those situations where it is necessary in a democratic society, for specific purposes.

Article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which the Republic of Korea is also party, stipulates that State parties must ensure the right of everyone to form trade union of his choice. Further, confirming its recognition of the right to freedom of association as a fundamental human right, under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), the Republic of Korea has agreed to respect workers’ right to freedom of association and the effective right to collective bargaining.

South Korea is one of the signatories to the ILO Conventions but has yet to ratify ILO Convention 87 (on freedom of association and protection of the right to organise) and Convention 98 (on the right to organise and collective bargaining). Despite intense criticism from the ILO on its aggressive labour provisions, the unfair practice of labour laws has continued in South Korea. Repressive laws such as the Trade Union Law, the Labour Dispute Mediation Act, the Public Servant Act, and the Private School Act still remain.(see box below)

Another draconian provision is Article 314 of the Criminal Code. Article 314 is a common legal provision that has been applied and used to criminalise and punish trade union activities and the leaders. Despite repeated recommendations by the ILO, and more recently by the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (May 11,2001) Article 314 of the Criminal Code stands unaltered. More than half of the unionists arrested, charged and imprisoned on grounds of “obstruction of business” in 2001 have been dealt with by this provision.

The “arrest” statistics are an indication of the intensity of government's attacks against the workers and the KCTU. Since the inception of the labour movement in 1987, more than 3,000 trade unionists have been imprisoned. Many have died as a result of the brutal repression and the exhaustion brought on by overwork - both measures were considered imperative in view of the country's economic situation.

KCTU president Dan and general secretary Lee are just two of the more than 50 other unionists who have become targets of police hunts. Since the last report to the ILO on the situation of imprisoned trade unionists, submitted on 5 June 2001, more unionists have been rounded up and incarcerated.

In the last three years, the Korean government has implemented major restructuring programmes in the public sector, financial sector, corporate sector, and the labour market. The key policy instruments include across the board reduction in workforce in the public sector, forced exit of enterprises, forced merger of companies, sell-off of public assets to the private sector, and sales of private and public assets to foreign concerns. According to John Evans, General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD): “There is still some kind of control mentality on the part of the government and there is an urgent need to stop considering trade unionism as a criminal activity.”

The government has continued to exclude trade unions from any discussions on economic policies and programmes. The actual shape and direction of the IMF-induced restructuring program have been inaccessible for intervention by the trade unions. Labour tension is heightening in the country as unionised workers at major workplaces have already begun strikes. More major unions are threatening to walk off their jobs. In a volatile situation such as this, strong arm tactics can only reinforce this feeling of insecurity.

Hard labour

Several provisions of the Trade Union Labour Relations Adjustment Act (TULRAA, enacted in March 1997) remain in contravention of international standards relating to freedom of association such as prohibition of the right to strike in some non-essential services; denial of the rights of dismissed and unemployed workers to organise or belong to a trade union; denial of the right of civil servants, and public and private servants to join or establish trade unions; ban on striking or collective bargaining. TULRAA now has a provision concerning the ban on third party intervention under which several trade unionists have been jailed.