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National and International Political Economy of the Korean Progressive Workers Movement

KIM, Jin Kyoon
Seoul National University


1. Introduction

Caught in the driving waves of global capitalism, Korea in 1998 was faced with not only an economic crisis, but also a political, social and cultural crisis. Politically, the people of Korea thought that the "change of political power after 50 years" from the long-lasting military dictatorship system to the so-called "civilian government" stage which had more democratic mechanisms, that new prospects were opened for further advancing democratization and the reunification of North and South Korea. At the same time, such prospects for a new era were also clouded as the Korean economy underwent restructuring under the IMF policy regime because of the economic crisis that began in the second half of 1997. As redundancies (permanent layoffs) are being carried out throughout all sectors of society-irrespective of whether private sector, state-run corporations or state institutions-masses of people have become unemployed, and according to official statistics, this number of jobless people exceeds 1.4 million. If one includes insecurely employed workers in this picture, this number already exceeds 4.5 million. Restated in different terms, roughly one-tenth of the population is living under the threat of unemployment. Migrant workers, mainly from Southeast Asia, who came to Korea believing it to be a "high wage zone," have started leaving Korea for jobs in other countries. The demand to dismantle the chaebol-who had been the main beneficiary of Korea's economic development and who were thought to be the motive power driving the economy-has being raised from all sides. During the process of economic development and against the background of military dictatorship-style repression, workers-who had been restricted to contributing to industrial development while suffering long work hours and low pay-rose up and, through the 1987 Great Workers Struggle, built a tremendous number of enterprise unions. The workers united these democratic unions into the Chunnohyup (the Korea Trade Union Congress), and finally built Minju-Nochong (the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) on November 11, 1995 as the comprehensive organ of the democratic workers movement.
As soon as the KCTU was built, it was faced with a new phase. The significance of the founding of the KCTU is in its efforts to become a counterpart on equal footing in class politics; however, in the process of that struggle to achieve parity, capital and the government were forcing flexibilization on the workers, and further exacerbating the advance of the KCTU was the 1996-7 economic crisis in which the government and capital have been forcing the workers to bear the burden of. Progressive workers were in the process of pursuing employment security and struggling to further the quality of life for the grassroots people (the Minjung). Above and beyond that, through social reform and cultivation of democracy on Korean soil, progressive workers also had to root out and eradicate the evil practices that developed under a form of capitalism that had been nurtured and protected by a long-term military dictatorship. But rather, they are faced with mass dismissals and a burgeoning unemployment crisis because of the program of global finance.
The "June Democratization Struggle of 1987" and the "Great Workers Struggle of 1987 (July-August)" occupy a very important place in the advancement of the mass-based stage of the movement for democratization and the democratic workers movement. Any understanding of the nature of this struggle would be informed by (1) knowledge of the division and occupancy of Korea by the two superpowers in the aftermath of World War II, as well as (2) an understanding of what happened during the strengthening of the anti-Communist "[South Korean National] Security" regime, and also (3) a knowledge of the colonizer's control that Japan exerted over Korea during the early 20th century and the after-effects of colonization on Korea's historical process, but in the paper, I will focus mainly on the processes occurring after the economic development plans of the 1960's.

2. The Structure of Capital Accumulation and the Labor Force in Korea

In the world capitalist system led by the USA after World War II and after the 1960's, Korea followed the development model prescribing export-driven growth and reliance or dependence on foreign countries. Grounded in government support and foreign investment, capital accumulation in Korea took place extremely rapidly, and this accumulation was centered in the export industry, resulting in masses of workers brought together in these industries. By the late 1970's, it was possible to classify this type of capital accumulation structure into two periods.
The first period would be the 1970's, during which export-oriented industrialization of light industries, basing comparative advantage on the "low-wages - long-work hours" of women workers, developed. This was the period of nationwide massive migration of the workforce from rural to urban areas. Korean capitalism developed from a labor-intensive industrial structure that recorded the longest working hours in the world (averaging about 260 hours per month) and low wages. In this period, chemical and heavy industries occupied a relatively low proportion of the Korean economy, and the differences among workers in terms of wage-level, work conditions, technical-skill level, educational background, industrial sector and type of occupation were relatively negligible. This was the environment in which blue collar women workers in their early twenties, who occupied a large proportion of the workforce and at the same time suffered from low wages and hard working conditions, led the democratic union movements of the 1970's (CHOI, Jang Jib, 1993; 124).
As the 1970's went by, the cycle of world capitalism moved into a generally sluggish phase, and Korea's industrial structure was reorganized accordingly. The high-growth of exports was blunted and while the rate of investment declined, inflation was on the rise. To combat this economic crisis of the early 1970's, the government sought to upgrade the industrial structure by supplanting the light industries with steel-making, machinery, ship-building, and petrochemistry as the principal industries of a push for developing the chemical and heavy industries. Thus the proportion of chemical and heavy industries in Korean exports shot up from only 8.4% in 1970 to 44.7% in 1979. PARK, Chung-Hee's military regime built the so-called Yushin Regime ("Revitalizing Reforms" Regime) in 1972, and used the Yushin as a system of totalitarian domination with no accountability to the Constitution. The "Anti-Communist" law and anti-communist ideology had consolidated the entire state system into a fascist one, and the Yushin Regime added to this the "Emergency Measures Act" to suppress any kind of political activity whatsoever. This act served to repress the organized workers in the chemical and heavy industries who were gathering together in unity (Seoul Institute for Social Studies, 1991).
Distinguished from this period is the second period of capitalist accumulation beginning in the 1980's. The late 1970's policy of fostering growth of large-scale chemical and heavy industries had led to an increase in the numbers of large-scale chemical and heavy industry plants. At the same time, the proportion of male workers in the workforce rapidly increased and these workers, clustered in industrial complexes and organizing by local communities, became the base to form a new level of democratic workers movement.
From the early '80s to 1989, when the Korean economy was faced with a structural slump, the Korean economy averaged over 10% growth per year, and this high growth was the consequence of a different industrial structure from the 1970's. In 1981, the Korean economic structure consisted of the agricultural and fishing sector, the manufacturing sector, and the overhead capital of society as a whole with the service sector in these percentages respectively: 34%, 28.2%, 37.8%. A mere 6 years later, by 1987, this economic structure shifted to relative percentages of 21.7%, 33.4% and 45.4%. It was an enormous structural change in so short a period of time. The countryside was no longer the main supplier of the workforce, and instead, there was a shortage of workforce in the manufacturing sector. As the chemical and heavy industries rapidly grew, the numbers of workers employed in these industries increased with this increase centering on workers in their late 20's and 30's as well as those who had a high school education. Moreover, the concentration of workforce in factories employing over 500 workers-the "big" companies--became conspicuous, reaching 35.5% in 1986. This concentration of workforce in "mass" workplaces made it possible for massive trade unions to also appear on the scene, but simultaneously also created wage gaps and differences in work conditions between the big companies and the small- and medium-sized companies, thereby also making divisions among workers possible as well.
According to the government's policy of fostering industrial zones, workers in major industries were particularly concentrated in industrial complexes in Seoul's Kuro district, Kyunggi province's Inchon, Panwol, and Ansan, as well as Kyongsangnam province's Ulsan, Masan, and Changwon, and in Kyongsangbuk province's Kumi. Moreover, as many small and medium-sized companies were absorbed by big capital or became the subcontractors of the big companies, the systematization of production overall into branches and subcontractors increased. That is, flow production processes became extensive, and the organic composition of capital was even more heightened . This concentration of workers into particular regions combined with the heightened systematization of production was full of latent potential for the union movement and made possible worker solidarity struggles.

3. Repressive Work Place Systems and the Pauperization of Workers

Since the 1960's and during the period of rapid economic growth, employers invented series of rules and regulations maximizing the reproduction of an unskilled and semi-skilled workforce. First, in the labor-intensive industrial system that attracted unskilled workers, pre-modern and direct methods of worker control were the major means to enforce the low wages and long work hours. In order to strengthen the legitimacy of this control, the employers forced upon workers a "loyalty to the company," using a combination of pressure by human relationships and use of traditionally patriarchal "family-ism."
The automation and mechanization of the 1970's development of the chemical and heavy industries changed many parts of the mode of worker control. Practices such as fragmentation of job duties and standardization of work were introduced into other industries besides the chemical and heavy industries, particularly final assembly industries such as the electronics and the automobile industry. Integrated work systems using conveyor belts became more prevalent. These changes in work process necessitated increased work intensity. However, because there was no corresponding change in the wage system, this has been called "Peripheral Fordism." The method of worker control--a nexus of the traditionally patriarchal "family-ism" type method and the fascist Yushin Regime control mode--operated as the dominant method of worker control in the 1980's, and the workers swallowed down their "rage" in this repressive workplace system.
Meanwhile, the poverty of the workers deepened. Though there was variation by year, on the whole, real wages did not remotely approach the increase in productivity; rather, the real wages rose extremely slowly or even were cut back. This economic pauperization combined with the anti-labor ideology disdaining workers imposed a psychological deprivation on workers as well. The situation was an antinomy; on the one hand, industrial workers had built the lauded Korean economic miracle while on the other they were disdained by society as they had spent their youth in these factories. And caught in this antinomy, the workers' alienation deepened (Kim Hyong-ki, 1988).
The massive strike that exploded in the summer of 1987 was a manifestation of this repressive workplace system and workers' pauperization. The 1.3 million workers who participated in the strike demanded dismantling of pre-modern labor controls--through 'punishment of violent managers' and 'freedom of hairstyle,'--and also demanded a 'wage increase,' and 'freedom to build democratic unions.' It was an expression of rage and discontent accumulated for decades.

4. Formation of Fascist Regime and Development of Democratic Union Movement

From 1962 to 1980, the Korean economy developed rapidly--averaging 8.3% economic growth per year--and 37.8% export growth per year. Accompanying this fast economic growth was a rapid capitalistic transformation of the whole social structure. The capitalists, who owed their ascension to the state's central economic plans, subordinated the branches of small and medium capitalist classes into their own lower ranks through the strategy of 'subordination' and 'exclusion,' and developed themselves into an 'economic' ruling class excluding workers and peasants (Kim Hyong-ki, 1988).
But, under the shadow of 'state-led industrialization', the workers did not enjoy the fruits of this economic growth, but rather had to endure daily hardship and tribulation. Because capital accumulation was dependent on long work hours and low wages, that is, the over-exploitation of the Minjung (grassroots people) including the workers, there was the constant possibility of social conflicts. The Korean government legitimized their violent suppression of resistance by invoking 'anti-communist ideology' and 'economic development ideology' for the country's modernization. This fascist regime met a series of political changes from late 1979, when military dictator PARK, Chung-Hee was assassinated. In early 1980, the New Military Junta seized power, and showed, with their repression of the democratization movement, that they would continue the fascism of the former regime.
Along with structural factors of the industrial development since 1960, the numbers of industrial workers' grew. By the 1970's, these workers were able to develop the democratic union movement. With the beginning of a young worker's protest self-immolation at Pyonghwa Market, the struggle against 'violent repression' by capital started increasing abruptly. The number of industrial disputes increased from 130 in 1969 to 165 in 1970, and to 1,656 in 1971. Since, except in 1972 when the rights of collective bargaining and action was blocked by the 'Special Act on National Security', the industrial actions increased continually to 367 in 1973, 666 in 1974, 1,045 in 1975, 1,864 in 1977, and 1,697 in 1979.
The resistance against the bad working conditions such as low wages and long work hours and various unfair labor actions such as delay in payment of wages, closing-징짚lockout, and unfair redundancy became an opportunity for waking up rage and awakening of workers and awakened them to a necessity of unity and organization. The labor movement in 1970s could be divided into two streams (Association for memorial of Jun Tae-il, 1990; 54-56).
One was the explosive struggle by unorganized workers. The occupation of the KAL building by Hanjin workers sent to Vietnam (1971), 20 thousand workers' struggle in Hyundai Shipbuilding Co. (1974), and Hyundai construction workers' struggle in Saudi Arabia and solidarity strike by the workers working in the Middle East countries (1978) were all spontaneous mass struggles by unorganized workers against the oppression and exploitation of big companies. These struggles went beyond the limitations of the labor law.
The other was the struggle of democratic unions which tried to defend workers' independence against the FKTU (Federation of Korean Trade Unions), which had been a yellow-union. These struggles were divided into two ways. One was the struggle to establish a new, autonomous union. With the beginning of Chonggye Clothing union in 1970, unions were built in Shinjin Motors (1971, at present Daewoo Motors), Samwon Texture, Bando Industry (1974), Control Data (1974), and YH (1975). These were the fruits of continual struggles against repression of dictatorship, against the obstacles placed by umbrella federations, and attempts of the government to co-opt the unions into yellow unions. The other was democratization of yellow unions. The struggles for democratization of unions--represented by the Hankook Wool(Wonpoong Wool, 1972) and Dongil Textile(1972 and 1976) struggles--were very difficult attempts in light of the barriers set up by management and the yellow unions.
The democratic union movements in 1970s developed from the harsh and severe work conditions in the factories, but couldn't develop into a mass movement. It was after political change in 1980s that the workers realized the class relations. The democratic union movement achieved a new perspective of 'class movement' then combining with former student activists who flooded the factories. It was an expression of strong desire for radical social revolution and the workers unrelentingly built up the movement of democratic unions despite of violent repression by the military dictatorship.
It was infeasible for the New Military Junta's government to maintain the 1980's repressive rule. Finally, in late 1983 before the general elections of 1985, the Junta was forced to remove the police forces surrounding every university, allow the former, non-military politicians to resume their political activities, and reinstate the professors who had been dismissed in the 1980. With these incremental changes, the democratic union movements started up again. In this period, the main movements centered around issues such as construction of new autonomous unions, democratization of yellow union, campaign to abolish "black listing" of workers, legalization of the Chonggye Clothing Union, establishment of the Council for Welfare of Korean Workers, and the campaign for reform of the labor law. The Daewoo Motors workers strike in 1985 was the first collective action by workers in a Fordist production structure. It was also an influential incident that inspired the national democratic movement to crack the fascist ruling system. In June of that year, 9 unions in the Kuro area set up a joint strike against repression of union by the government. The joint strike in Kuro was a moment of expanding the movement against the New Military Junta's rule and was a first joint strike since the 1950's. With this struggle, the democratic union movement transformed itself from old 'small group movement' to a 'local labor movement' based on community, and this was an important turning point (Kim Sang-kon, 1995; 98).

5. New beginning of Democratic Union Movement: From '87 Workers' Great Struggle to the Construction of the National Council of Unions

The democratic union movement since the 1980's can be divided into three periods according to the aims for establishing a worker organization. The first period focused on building democratic unions. Through the 1987 Great Workers Struggle, there was extensive building of democratic unions. The second period focused on building a national center. The attempts for constructing a national center of the democratic unions ended with the building of the Korea Trade Union Congress (Chunnohyup). In the third period, the democratic unions attempt to transform themselves into industrial-level unions that are united in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. This period ended in November 1995 with the establishment of the KCTU.
Even under the military fascist regime of the early '80s, workers in workplaces all over the nation were preparing for the building of the democratic union movement, which became a basis for the anti-fascist movement. The Korea Trade Union Congress has been the center of democratic union movement since 1987 and was the transitional organization for the KCTU/industrial union system.

(1) 1987 Workers' Great Struggle

Workers emerged as a social force through the 1987 Great Workers' Struggle, and extended their joint and solidarity struggles to build a national organization, the Korea Trade Union Congress. The Great Workers Struggle took place from July-September of 1987. It was ignited by the foundation of the Hyundai Engine Workers Union in Ulsan (July 5, 1987), and it expanded nationally from the southern area to the Kuro industrial zone in Seoul. During those 3 months, the number of new unions established amounted to 1,361 and the number of union members increased from 900,000 to 1,500,000 members. With the explosive constructions of unions, it became commonly understood that the "union" was the legitimate mass organization of the workers. Even before the Great Workers' Struggle, the workers had struggled and held strikes continually, and this erupted into the struggle of 1987, which influenced and was influenced by the 1987 democratization movement that aimed to reform the constitution to allow a direct election of the president. With this struggle, the workers movement reached a new stage. First of all, union became understood as the organization of the workers. Second, autonomy, democracy, and unity of workers became established as the new values. Third, as workers experienced the 'strike first; negotiate later' tactic, they learned the logic of and dynamics of power between labor and employers. Fourth, because of the magnitude and mass nature of the Great Workers Struggle, for the first time in history, workers received wage increases in the double digits.

In 1988 and 1989, the democratic union movement, largely built in the 1987 Great Workers Struggle, accelerated efforts for solidarity activity to build an umbrella organization. The 'Council of Professional and Clerical Unions' was established in November of 1987 and the 'Confederation of Unions in Masan징짚Changwon,' the first regionally-based workers' conference, was established in December of 1987; the blue collar workers gathered to form the 'Council of Local Unions(CLU)' and white collar workers gathered to form the 'Korea Congress of Independent Industrial Trade Union Federations (KCIIF) '. Just before the establishment of the Korea Trade Union Congress (Chunnohyup), the 17 CLUs were nationwide in scope and represented 263,540 workers in 630 unions; whereas the 13 CUIs-composed of the unions of clerical and professional workers, hospital workers, researchers, teachers, workers in the publishing industry, construction workers, workers employed by foreign companies, journalists, university workers, workers in local medical insurance, and university lecturers--were constructed representing 173,800 from 690 unions.
These two councils, organized by locality and industry respectively, built a national solidarity organization ('Special Committee of National Unions for Revision of the Labor Law', June, 1988) to campaign for the revision of anti-worker clauses in the labor law. The two councils also constructed a national organization (the 'National Council of Labor Movement Organizations', June 1988) to struggle against the repression of the labor movement at Hyundai Engine Company. The Special Committee 징짝 was consolidated into the 'National Headquarters for Labor Law Reform' in August of 1988, and the headquarters launched various joint struggles focusing on smashing the anti-worker labor law. The struggle to reform the labor law climaxed in the 'National Workers Rally for Continuing the Spirit of Martyr Cheon Tae-il and Revision of the Anti-Worker Labor Law' on the 13th of November 1988. 50,000 workers attended the rally. It was the greatest workers' rally since the Korean War in 1950. On the basis of these organizational achievements and struggle, blue and white collar workers built the first national organization, the 'National Congress of Unions by Locality and Industry (December, 1988)', which became both the struggle headquarters for collective wage struggles and the forum for discussions about building the NCU in the next period.
Workers experienced class unity through this two year period of solidarity activities between 1987 and 1989. At the same time, they underwent unrelenting repression from the government and capitalists and this repression reinforced the recognition that the anti-worker labor laws would have to be revised. Reflecting this understanding, they tried to build a center organization that would forge nationwide solidarity focused on the revision of the labor law. Thus, the Preparatory Subcommittee for Construction of Chunnohyup (Korea Trade Union Congress) was composed in July of 1989. In December of that year, the Committee for Construction of Chunnohyup (Korea Trade Union Congress) was inaugurated. On the 18th December, the Chunnohyup newspaper was founded, and after long preparations the NCU was finally constructed in January 1990.
Chunnohyup was built and developed through workers' struggle from below on such issues as wage increases, labor law revision, and defending the newly established democratic unions. Thus, Chunnohyup, constructed on the basis of independent and democratic activities by working people, had organizational principles that differed greatly from the management-accomodating principles of the existing national center, the corporatist FKTU. Because Chunnohyup was built from below, it could become a strong, mass-based nationwide organization.

(2) The Development of the Chunnohyup

Establishment of the Chunnohyup (22January90): Struggle for Defending Chunnohyup and the Strengthening of Solidarity Activities. On the same day as the launching of Chunnohyup, the three conservative political parties, represented by KIM, Young-Sam, ROH, Tae-Woo and KIM, Jong-Pil, consolidated their parties. The government, which had repressed the workers movement, started a repressive crackdown. The government launched inspections into the activities of the unions affiliated to Chunnohyup, put the leaders on wanted lists and imprisoned trade union leaders, and repressed the democratic workers movement with the ideology of 'No work, no pay'. As soon as it was constructed, Chunnohyup had to fight to defending its very existence and preserve the democratic union movement. Meanwhile, Hyundai Heavy Industries workers entered the "Goliath" struggle. The government suppressed the struggle with a paramilitary riot police raid. In light of this government repression, Chunnohyup declared the first general strike since the founding of the Republic of Korea, in solidarity with the striking KBS union and the striking Hyundai workers. With the general strike, Chunnohyup could overcome the repression. The wage and collective bargaining struggles that were deadlocked rapidly resolved into collective bargaining agreements, and this momentum gave enormous power to the big company unions and the KCIIF which were organizationally weak.
The collective wage struggle was systematically prepared in 1991. Chunnohyup built the 'National Joint Struggle Committee for Wage Increase' which made a struggle plan that covered increases for even the nonaffiliated unions.
But, with the arrest of leaders of the 'Solidarity Congress of Big Company Unions', the death of college student Kang Kyong-dae at the hands of the riot police in the police repression of a student demonstration, the protest self-immolation of students-one after another-in April, and the death, while under questioning in prison, of Hanjin Heavy Industries Workers Union President Park Chang-soo, instead of focusing on the wage increase, Chunnohyup focused on countermeasures to the violence and repression by immediately creating a 'Workers' Countermeasures Committee' to help fight the repression. But, the organizational basis of Chunnohyup was already weak due to job insecurity and the big company unions couldn't take solidarity actions due to the repression on the Congress for Solidarity. Under these difficult conditions, Chunnohyup tried to combine the previous planned wage increase struggle with the struggle protesting the death during interrogation of Martyr Park Chang-soo. Chunnohyup thus called for a week-long general strike and tried to step up the struggle. But, as there were 18 local and national struggles organized, the local unions were overburdened. To divert the attention of the people from the Kang Kyong-dae accident and toward the local elections, the government launched an offensive to wipe out industrial unrest by using riot police raids to clear out the major striking workplaces and the first 6 months of Chunnohyup struggle in 1991 came to a close.
The general strike in 1990 and 1991 was a climax of solidarity struggle by the democratic unions that developed after 1987. With the general strike, a lot of big company unions constructed democratic union leaderships. In the second half of 1991, when Korea joined the ILO and the labor minister announced that the labor law had been "reformed," to be more anti-worker, Chunnohyup, KCIIF, and other labor movement organizations built the 'Joint Committee for Ratification of ILO Basic Conventions and Labor Law Reform'(JC-ILO). Thus, white collar unions which couldn't participate in the construction of Chunnohyup strengthened their relationships