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5 September, 2005ICEM News release No. 91/2000
A nationwide power strike was postponed at the last minute in South Korea today. However, the dispute is unlikely to be resolved.
The Korea National Electricity Workers' Union (KNEWU) today agreed to hold four more days of talks with the government over plans to split up and privatise the national power utility KEPCO.
The union - and a large proportion of the Korean public - oppose the privatisation scheme.
The strike had been due to start at 5 a.m. today local time. It was temporarily postponed after the government threatened to impose emergency arbitration. This would have made any strike action illegal.
But there are few signs that the government will back down over the power sell-off, union sources say. So strikes are still likely at the beginning of December.
If the industrial action goes ahead, it may merge into a broader general strike. Today, for the first time ever, the presidents of the two national trade union confederations FKTU and KCTU agreed to hold a joint press conference about plans for a general strike next month. This will be in protest against the privatisation of state-owned companies, the structural adjustment programme in the bank industry and the sell-off of the Daewoo motor company.
Meanwhile, a sit-in at the headquarters of the power utility KEPCO will continue, the KNEWU said.
At the global level, the KNEWU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has pledged full support for the union's campaign. Asia-Pacific energy unions meeting in Bangkok this week also declared their solidarity. Energy unions in a number of Asian countries have been contending with World Bank-influenced plans to privatise their industries.