By James Vassilopoulos
On January 15, more than 600,000 South Korean workers went on strike. This was followed by another general strike on January 22. Thousands of students and workers armed with stones battled cops wearing full body armour and wielding truncheons and their tear gas cluster bombs. Workers making synchronised chopping movements with their arms chanted, "Crush Kim Young-sam". This is people's power, Korean style.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called the general strike after the ruling New Korea Party on December 26 rammed through a new labour law and the National Security Planning Agency law. In the early hours of the morning, without the presence of the opposition parties, 11 pieces of legislation were crunched through parliament in under six minutes.
The legislation is a major attack on workers and democratic rights. It involves:
lthe legalisation of lay-offs;
l"flexible" working hours, which will mean longer hours with no wage increase;
lmaintaining a ban on free association, on workers and unions being able to be involved in political activities, and on workers having a choice of what union to belong to.
This first general strike for 50 years lasted for 20 days, climaxing on January 15 with the government-aligned Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) supporting the strike. On this day, more than 600,000 struck and 200,000 workers rallied across South Korea.
"The general strike was very, very successful", according to Jongsoae Oh, a leading member of the KCTU currently visiting Australia.
"It was significant that following the new year break, workers still followed the call of the KCTU to continue the strike. This was the first time we could do this."
Most strikes in South Korea are sit-down strikes. Instead of staying at home, workers turn up at the job and begin the day with union meetings and a program of activities including mass street rallies.
People attending the rallies might have received a complimentary blood pressure check by nurses in the union or even had their car fixed by mechanic unionists, free of charge.
One game which workers played with "zeal and enthusiasm", according to the KCTU, was darts — the dart board was covered with caricatures of "capitalists, politicians, and the president".
Pickets outside the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan poured yellow paint over scabs who smashed their way into the shipyards using a bulldozer.
Car workers, shipbuilders, manufacturing workers, hospital workers, telecommunication workers, television staff, public servants, bus and taxi drivers and bank employees have all been involved in the strikes.
In a minor retreat, President Kim Young-sam offered to reopen discussion on the labour laws in parliament, opening the way for amendments and some compromise.
The KCTU rejected this manoeuvre. Kwon Young-gil, head of the KCTU, stated that the government "must know that such a deceptive [National Assembly] meeting" would not help resolve key problems.
The KCTU has stated it will continue striking each Wednesday and rallying every Saturday. If the government does not repeal the law by February 18, the strikes will be widened again.
Kim Young-sam also withdrew the warrants for the arrest of union leaders, thereby ending the siege at Myongdong Cathedral. The union leaders marched out triumphantly at the head of 4000 workers.
The strike of January 22 called by the KCTU (without the FKTU) was again successful, with about 180,000 workers participating in the strike, only marginally lower than previous highs.
According to Jongsoae Oh, "Workers still want an intensive fight back, not only for them to fight back but also to involve their families. Workers believe that if they can bring their families to the strike then they can win."
The strikes have received a great deal of public support and have ignited a number of solidarity and social movements. A survey by the major opposition party, the National Congress for New Politics, found that 54.5% of the people surveyed supported the general strike.
Members of the Association of Lawyers for a Democratic Society have had sit-in demonstrations. Leading professors from universities including Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Pusan University have put out statements demanding the repeal of the laws, or they will intensify their campaign to bring down the government.
The militancy and determination of the workers stem from their understanding that the denial of their democratic rights by the government makes it much easier for them to be exploited.
Government-enforced super-exploitation is a major factor in the South Korean "economic miracle". Workers on average work 54.2 hours per week. In some industries, like shipbuilding, a minimum of 70 hours is worked.
South Korea in the late 1980s had the highest rate of industrial accidents in the world, with 1660 deaths annually and with 142,088 workplace accidents.
Wages are low and on average cover only 60% of living costs. In 1989 43% of workers earned 300,000 won (US$428) a month, significantly below the amount needed to satisfy basic human needs.
There are no unemployment benefits nor any pension system.
Women earn significantly less than men. In 1990 the average woman's wage in manufacturing was 55.6% of that of male workers.
There is widespread repression of workers: between 1988 and 1996, 2300 workers were imprisoned.
In the 1960s and 1970s, military dictatorships succeeded in crushing the newly awakening labour movement. In 1987, however, there was a huge strike wave, and independent unions formed which the government was not able to crush. More than 8000 independent unions formed, doubling the size of the unionised work force and adding 1 million unionised workers.
They campaigned for better wages, shorter working hours and recognition of their unions. The worker protests also were decisive in pushing for direct elections for the president. 1988 was the first year a president (Roh Tae-woo, now in jail) was elected directly by the people.
In 1989, Hyundai strikers barricaded themselves in the plants for 109 days. The strike was smashed only when thousands of riot police broke into the factory.
The lessons of labour upsurge can be summed up, as quoted by the Telecommunications Taskgroup for the General Strike: "The world cannot be changed by some resolution of some politician but by the power of the people. That is, people who stick leaflets on cars which say, 'I hate civilian dictatorships'."