Strike by Stevedores Brings Work to a Halt at Key S. Korea Port

SEOUL, South Korea —  Walkouts by longshoremen brought work to a standstill Friday at several container yards in Pusan, South Korea’s major port, intensifying an outbreak of labor disputes around the country.

Shipping containers piled up on the docks, hampering the country’s all-important foreign trade. According to press reports, stevedores of the Korean Expressway and Hanjin Transportation companies demanded sharp wage increases and began staging walkouts on Tuesday.

The Labor Ministry, in an effort to put down the rash of wage disputes, called on South Korea’s business conglomerates to extend the settlements they make with any of their subsidiaries to the others.

By Friday evening, more than 80 labor disputes were under way at factories and smaller plants. Sit-ins began Thursday night at several large plants across the country and some continued Friday night, a ministry spokesman said.

The giant Hyundai Motor Co. and Hyundai Heavy Industries were hit by work stoppages. Job actions at Hyundai parts suppliers in past weeks had already caused the auto maker to miss its July target for exports to the United States by several thousand cars, and company officials said they may be unable to fill all of their U.S. orders in the week ahead.

Another conglomerate, Daewoo, is confronted with a sit-in by 2,000 workers at its heavy industries subsidiary in the port of Inchon. Transportation and cab companies, shoemaking firms and others were also disrupted by workers demanding higher wages, bigger bonuses and better working conditions. More than 20,000 workers are involved, the Labor Ministry reported.

None of the workers at the conglomerates and most smaller firms are union members, but the successful call for democratic political reforms in June triggered a series of job actions beginning last month.

A spokesman said Labor Minister Lee Hun Kee plans to meet soon with the heads of the country’s 30 top firms to press the call for across-the-board settlements.

Hyundai Motor, which suspended operations Thursday, reported that it will lose about $12.5 million a day in sales while it is shut down.

Chung Ju Yung, founder and honorary chairman of the Hyundai group, told the Korea Times that the work stoppages were led by about 10 private organizations, which he termed “extremely radical.”

“Endorsement of the extremely radical labor activity will prove the seed of a more dangerous labor movement,” Chung said. “We have no reason to reject democratically founded unions. Management is obliged to foster them” and to significantly improve the conditions and pay of workers.

But, he added, Hyundai will not deal with the men he called radicals, “even if we are forced to suspend the operation for a month or more.”

The Labor Ministry announcement set no target figures on wages. Workers at a typical industrial plant in Seoul are paid an average of $5 for a 13-hour workday, and have just one free day a week.

Political analysts say that underpaid blue-collar workers are potentially the most explosive factor if democratic reforms do not lead to higher living standards. Feeling the pressure, representatives of the ruling and opposition parties, currently negotiating political reforms, agreed Thursday that the new constitution should guarantee the rights of collective bargaining and collective action.

The ruling party, however, drew the line at public utility workers and flatly opposed opposition calls for a constitutional provision for a role for workers in management and a share of corporate profits.