Labor minister slams KCTU action obstructing withdrawal by Posco union

The labor minister criticized the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' (KCTU) action to obstruct a Posco labor union’s withdrawal from the organization.

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik speaks during a press briefing held at the government complex in Sejong, Monday. [NEWS1]

The labor minister criticized the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' (KCTU) action to obstruct a Posco labor union’s withdrawal from the organization.

“We will take necessary actions, such as issuing a correction order through the Labor Relations Commission, to prevent a recurrence of such incident,” said Lee Jung-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, during a press briefing held on Monday at the government complex in Sejong.

“A suspicion has been raised that [the KCTU] interrupted workers from joining or withdrawing from labor unions against their will,” said Lee.

The dispute between Posco’s unionized workers and the KCTU started last month.

One of two Posco labor unions based in Pohang, which has been affiliated under the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) of the KCTU, held a vote from Nov. 3 to 4 to leave the union.

The result was 66.86 percent in favor of the withdrawal plan.

Yet the Regional Employment and Labor Office of Pohang refused the application from the Posco union to change its affiliation, citing a rule that a voting schedule has to be announced seven days in advance.

Therefore, the Posco union held another vote from Nov. 28 to 30. The withdrawal plan won once again with 69.93 percent of the unionized members voting in favor.

The turnout favoring the withdrawal was higher in the second vote than the first one because the voting coincided with a 16-day trucker strike, which started on Nov. 24.

The trucker strike organized by Cargo Truckers Solidarity, the trucker union under the KFCU, significantly disrupted shipments at the steelmaker’s Pohang plant.

However, the Labor Ministry once again dismissed the application, because the voting was organized by members that do not have a right to call a vote.

The union members were disqualified from the voting process because the KCTU expelled the leading members of the Posco union after the first voting was announced.

“The Ministry dismissed the application because the voting had not been organized by a qualifying member of the union,” said Lee.

“But the fundamental reason behind the application dismissal is the KCTU’s expulsion of the Posco union’s leading members.”

The unionized workers of Posco, which currently has no executive member with a right to call a general meeting or a vote, is establishing an emergency response committee.

Former executive members of the Posco labor union issued a statement on Dec. 22, saying that “kicking members out of the union because they reflected the union members’ wish to change the organization’s affiliation is the proof that the KMWU is not a labor group.”

The government is taking a hardline stance against the construction workers’ union under the KCTU as well.

Minister Won Hee-ryong of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recently criticized the construction union over alleged illegal practices such as overcharging, saying that the construction union "is the parasitic poison of the economy.”

BY KANG KI-HEON, KIM WON, SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]