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----- Original Message -----
From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 12:27 AM
Subject: [downwithcapitalism] Class struggle in S. Korea - update
Associated Press (with additional material by Korea Herald). 12 June
2001. Health workers join South Korean strike, Korean Air pilots drop
out.
SEOUL -- Several thousand nurses and other workers walked off their jobs
at eight hospitals Wednesday, joining a strike by South Korean airline,
chemical and metal workers.
As the new workers joined the strike, however, 1,600 pilots at Korean
Air ended their own two-day walkout. The nation's second airline, Asiana
Airlines, remained strikebound.
The workers were protesting President Kim Dae-jung's corporate reform
programs, which workers blamed for causing mass layoffs. The government
called the strikes illegal.
When the widespread job actions by the airlines and the metal and
chemical industries began Tuesday, thousands of strikers held large
protests in Seoul and 13 other cities. The rallies were much smaller for
the hospital workers and mostly confined to the medical facilities.
The Korean Air walkout ended Wednesday after the company agreed to
freeze hiring of foreign pilots this year and gradually reduce their
numbers, while pilots backed off a demand for immediate wage increases.
"Korean Air will do its best to return to normal operations by the
afternoon of Thursday," said a joint statement from management and the
pilots' union.
The strike had forced Korean Air and Asiana Airlines to cancel more than
half their scheduled flights for a second day on Wednesday.
The protests were part of a broader strike called by the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions, an umbrella labor group, to press demands
for wage increases and better employment conditions. The group, which
has been responsible for many violent protest in the past, has urged
other industries to join the strike.
The confederation claimed Wednesday that 42,000 workers at 69 workplaces
were taking part in the current strike.
Strike organizers said 3,200 nurses, clerks and utility workers walked
off the job at eight hospitals Wednesday.
[N.B.] Doctors did not take part, and no serious problems were reported
because the emergency rooms and intensive care units remained open with
essential staffers. "Everything is fine here, except some delays," said
Chang Young-sook, a 55-year-old patient at Seoul National University
Hospital, where 900 staff members went on strike.
The government convened a meeting of labor-related ministers yesterday,
in which it warned that participants in illegal strikes will face legal
punishment.
The prosecution has already obtained a court order to arrest 14 leaders
of Korean Air's pilot union in connection with the walkout.
Arrest warrants have also been sought against eight high-ranking union
officials of Hyosung Corp.'s Ulsan plant.
Special police forces stormed the Hyosung plant Tuesday to nab the eight
unionists, who were staging a sit-in atop a 50 meter-tall tower.
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