Umbrella union to go on general strike in Dec.

The country`s largest labor union declared Thursday it will go on a general strike from December to protest labor law revisions becoming effective from next year, Yonhap said.



The Federation of Korean Trade Union (FKTU), the more moderate of the nation`s two main umbrella groups, said the decision was confirmed at a meeting of representatives in southern Seoul. The dates, venues and other details will be decided later by the federation`s leaders, union officials said.



The Lee Myung-bak administration and the ruling party have proposed legal revisions to allow multiple unions in a single workplace and prohibit pay for full-time unionists.

"We regard the issue of multiple unions and salary ban as a matter of life and death for 16 million workers and will devote all our energy to fighting against it (revisions)," the FKTU said in a statement issued in the name of 652 representatives.

The FKTU agrees to having more than one union at a single work place but opposes government demands that only one of them be recognized as the negotiating partner with the management. It also argues that the government`s "no work, no pay" principle undermines the union`s important role as the mediator between workers and the management.

The labor association, which claims over 700,000 members nationwide, said they were abandoning a tripartite panel`s agreement reached in February on "sharing the burden" to help overcome the global economic crisis. The KFTU had pledged at the time to refrain from strikes and to freeze or cut back wages.