[EDITORIAL] Less confrontation

Unionists promoting a third national umbrella labor group claim one of the two established groups is "too confrontational and ideological" and the other is "too authoritarian and bureaucratic." Their criticism may not be far off the mark, if not entirely true.

While promising to take the middle road, the new group, which goes by the name of the Labor Alliance for New Hope, has committed itself to "serving the interests of workers and the nation." It cannot be a lofty goal by any means. It is just a modest one.

But will the new group live up to its commitment? That may be anyone`s guess, given what the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the less confrontational but more bureaucratic Federation of Korean Trade Unions have done in the past.

Both claim to put the interests of unionists ahead of everything else. But leaders of the two national labor groups have more often than not placed their own interests above those of the unionists under their wing. Some of them have used their union positions as a springboard for election to the National Assembly.

Against this backdrop, the new umbrella labor group is offering an alternative - an action that is in itself a great service to those fed up with either the KCTU or the FKTU. More than 50 unions have applied for membership with the new group since its launch on Thursday last week.



The number of unionists under its wing, though approaching 130,000, is much smaller than those of the established two - the FKTU with 720,000 and the KCTU with 650,000. True, the new group will have to go a long way before it establishes itself as a rival powerful enough to keep the others in check.

Nonetheless, the new group expects to double its membership when a revised labor law goes into effect, permitting more than one union to be in operation at one workplace in July next year. Their goal cannot be brushed aside as overambitious.

The reason is that workers disgruntled with their union affiliated with either the FKTU or the KCTU may freely choose to part with the union and create a new one with the third national umbrella labor group.

In the past, quite a few unions have attempted to dissociate themselves from the KCTU because of its militancy - the labor group frequently stages outdoor protest rallies for political purposes. But not many have been successful because of the tight rules, which, next July, will be easy to circumvent.

The prospect of en-masse desertion appears to be taming the KCTU, whose leadership has recently promised that participants in its protests will not wear red headbands - a symbol of militancy. In an abrupt change of opinion, its chairman said last week, "We at the KCTU will shed our image as a militant group, launch a more moderate labor movement and, by doing so, endear ourselves to unionists and the nation."

The chairman went on to say, "There is no longer a place where we can wear red headbands and wield steel pipes in a radical protest." He added the KCTU would call its deputies to a national convention just once a year. In the past it has called a general meeting several times a year, mostly for a general strike.

It will certainly take time until the KCTU chairman proves himself a successful proponent of moderation. In the past, similar calls for moderation have often been drowned out by vociferous demands for combative action against not just employers but the government.

But the unmistakable fact is that the KCTU is pressured to change its course of action since the emergence of a third national umbrella labor group. This is a welcome development.