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9 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 34/2001
Violent police action to end a strike at one of the world's biggest nylon manufacturers has been condemned by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
Riot police and troops attacked Korea's Hyosung plant, in Ulsan, on Tuesday and broke up a 12-day-old strike there. The police had reportedly been called in by the Hyosung management.
"The Hyosung dispute is essentially over management bad faith during negotiations on employment security," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs pointed out in a letter to Korean President Kim Dae-jung. "It is therefore an industrial relations issue, and there was no good reason why riot police and troops should have intervened in the Hyosung dispute at all - let alone in the very violent way that they did."
Higgs asked President Kim to "put a stop to such unwarranted police interventions in industrial disputes." He also urged him to "order the police to withdraw from the Hyosung plant" and to "bring your influence to bear on company managements so that they bargain in good faith with trade unions, notably in the case of Hyosung."
Riot police and troops attacked Korea's Hyosung plant, in Ulsan, on Tuesday and broke up a 12-day-old strike there. The police had reportedly been called in by the Hyosung management.
"The Hyosung dispute is essentially over management bad faith during negotiations on employment security," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs pointed out in a letter to Korean President Kim Dae-jung. "It is therefore an industrial relations issue, and there was no good reason why riot police and troops should have intervened in the Hyosung dispute at all - let alone in the very violent way that they did."
Higgs asked President Kim to "put a stop to such unwarranted police interventions in industrial disputes." He also urged him to "order the police to withdraw from the Hyosung plant" and to "bring your influence to bear on company managements so that they bargain in good faith with trade unions, notably in the case of Hyosung."