"Chonnohyup's main achievement is that it still exists!" This how Lee Young Soon, a leading figure in the Korean Trade Union Congress, or Chonnohyup, summed up the two years of employer and government repression it has experienced since the it was formed in 1990.
Lee Young Soon, a union leader from 1977 to 1982 at the US-owned electronics multinational Control Data — the scene of one of Korea's main union organisation struggles in the 1970s — is a member of Chonnohyup's advisory committee. She is a founder of the Korean Women Workers' Association and has been a chairperson of the national alliance of peoples movements, Chunminyon, an involvement which has led to her spending time in detention and in hiding. She spoke to Asian Labour Update in December about how Chonnohyup has survived through continued support from the grassroots movement, and its plans.
Chonnohyup's formation was the culmination of a wave of strikes and industrial action that began in mid-1987 and sparked the rapid growth of the democratic trade union movement. Its current membership stands at around 200,000, grouped into 600 enterprise-based unions. Most affiliated unions represent manual workers, often in medium-sized and small workplaces.
Chonnohyup is not the only body representing the democratic union movement in South Korea. There are several other industrial or professional union federations.
These separate federations, with which Chonnohyup has a working relationship, also have a membership of over 200,000, bringing the total strength of the democratic union movement to over 400,000. The traditionally pro-government Federation of Korean Trade Unions has a declared membership of 1.6 million.
According to Lee, "the repression against Chonnohyup compares with the treatment of workers' organisations in the 1920s under Japanese occupation". This was a time when unions scored some early successes but were also harshly repressed. In 1991, said Lee, the South Korean regime and security services had a specific plan to "destroy Chonnohyup".
Between January 1990 and July 1991, 848 trade unionists were arrested and detained for periods ranging from a few weeks to a year or more. The total rises to over 1000 if arrests of members of other non-union labour groups are included.
Of these, 615 were leaders of unions affiliated with Chonnohyup, and almost the entire membership of the organisation's central committee — 19 of 22 members — have been arrested many times. Chonnohyup's chairperson, Dan Byung Ho has been arrested twice.
Chonnohyup has evidence of mistreatment of many prisoners, including l of fingernails.
Legal and political moves by the government have made union recognition and organisation difficult. The government has worked with companies to temporarily close down or cut employment at firms with unions affiliated to Chonnohyup. Employers have offered incentives to union leaders to disaffiliate.
During wage bargaining in 1991, there was concerted action by employers and government agencies to severely restrict the actions of democratic unions, particularly in large, prominent companies, through arrests, lock-outs and legal action.
The government made public alliances with leading business organisations in promoting economic and legal changes which will hinder the union movement. The "five mores" campaign was launched in November by five business groups, with government support, aimed at increasing productivity and restricting the influence of trade unions. The campaign is necessary, its supporters argue, due to South Korea's declining international economic competitiveness.
The government also tabled harsh new labour laws. Even the FKTU joined Chonnohyup in opposing these "reforms", and the government was forced to abandon them.
The breadth and intensity of this onslaught by the government severely weakened the militant labour federation. "Many unions have put off joining or been forced to leave Chonnohyup", Lee admits. The federation has also faced acute practical problems. Its leadership has been in prison most of the time, and its lack of status in Korean labour law (the FKTU is the only recognised national union federation) means collecting membership dues has been extremely difficult.
Lee says Chonnohyup's commitment to carry on derives directly from the support it continues to receive from Korea's working class. In union leadership elections in 1990 and 1991, union members opted decisively for candidates that support democratic union organisation. As many as 95% of successful candidates in the 1991 elections supported the democratic union movement and — despite the repression such a move was likely to bring — many were committed to affiliating to Chonnohyup.
Perhaps the most graphic and gratifying example of continued support, according to Lee, was the huge turnout to the annual rally to commemorate the death of Chun Tae Il, a textile worker who burnt himself to death in 1970. The November 10 rally, organised by Chonnohyup with the other democratic union federations, attracted 70,000 workers. The FKTU had planned a separate rally at a similar time but cancelled it for fear of an embarrassingly small turnout.
Chonnohyup's program for 1992 is quite modest — education programs for union leaders, legal advice, and cooperation with other democratic union groups. Lee is unsure what further problems and challenges 1992 red by the federation's strong support, she and her Chonnohyup colleagues are determined to carry its "achievement of still existing" into another year and beyond.
[Abridged from the Hong Kong-based Asian Labour Report.]