Doosan conflict ends

KOREA, REP: After a long, bitter dispute, and following government arbitration, the Korean Metal Workers' Federation and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction reached a settlement on March 12. Among the main issues which have been resolved, the company has agreed to:

• rehire five of the 18 workers dismissed for taking part in the Doosan Workers' Trade Union strike of May 22-July 7, 2002, and continue to negotiate the reinstatement of the other 13;
• provide 50 per cent of the wages withheld by the company during the strike;
• drop demands for damage compensation and seizure of assets of individual trade union members for plant losses incurred during the strike, and reduce demands to 40 per cent (from 100 per cent) for provisional seizure of the union's property.

On January 9, 2003, Bae Dal-ho, a 50-year-old Doosan worker and trade union activist, who had participated in the strike, committed suicide by self-immolation after the company had had his property assets and wage compensation provisionally seized. In the 62-day standoff which followed Bae's death, a number of actions were taken in protest at the company's harsh, anti-union stance. Members of the KMWF and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held daily vigils outside Doosan headquarters. On January 16, 20,000 KMWF metalworkers went on a 4-hour strike; on January 21, the KCTU announced a boycott of Doosan products; a march on Doosan had been planned for March 12, and 72.91 per cent of the KMWF's membership of 160,000 had voted for a general strike on March 20. Since January, there has also been an international action alert on LabourStart to protest Doosan's anti-union repression.