Privatization of Korean Electrical Industry, Method of Privatization and Struggle of Electrical Workers Union
September, 1999
THE KOREAN NATIONAL ELECTRICAL WORKERS UNION
Introduction
We arrange privatization details for the electrical industry, views, struggles of the National Electrical Workers Union for privatization of the Korean electrical industry, for an effective privatization drive as follows.
Privatization of the electrical industry results from pressure from supranational capital to effectively intend to make inroads into the developing country’s markets according to rapid reorganizations of world economy such as NAFTA, Investment Regulations of APEC, MOA of WTO, OECD MAI (OECD Multiparty Agreement for Investment), led by America. In particular, OECD MAI contains a plot to efficiently guarantee profits for investment of supranational capital by overcoming the problems, such as regional trade limits, binding power limits and regulations only for trade related investments, of investment regulations of existing WTO, NAFTA and APEC. Such danger of OECD MAI guarantees defenseless ‘freedom’ for financial markets of developing countries vulnerable to floating exchange rates, rather than direct investments.
Therefore short-term speculative capital causes a foreign exchange crisis against the whole world and maximizes capital profits. Thus MAI may be said to be the definitive version of new liberalism legally authorizing its profit exploitation, while maximizing liberalization of financial and actual capital.
Such maneuvering of international speculative capital caused a foreign exchange crisis for Asian countries whose financial systems are vulnerable and that performed large borrowings due to government-initiated economic developments. Foreign exchange dominos of Asian countries may be due to supranational capital in conspiracy with the IMF, and the 21st century world-governing strategy of Washington to protect capital. After causing a foreign exchange crisis and constructing relief fund financing by the IMF, the capital and the strategy intends effectively to encroach upon the public enterprises of developing countries and large enterprise groups to perform superior technology accumulation, using excessive speculative capital.
Depending on the globalization of the world economy and pressure for openness, the public industries such as electricity, communications, water supply, gas and so on, are inevitably in crisis due to exposure to supranational capital. Pertinacity of supranational capital to the network industry and the electricity sector to continue rapid growth with natural monopolistic logic may be explained by the proverb of ‘the goose that laid golden eggs’ to guarantee stable and efficient profits.
Accordingly, what do we have to do against such a plot of supranational speculative capital?
In 1998, Korea was in a big structural change program for the worse, demanding unilateral sacrifice of workers in the end of a restructuring syndrome.
The current Korean government degrades Korea as ‘the country that foreign capital can come in freely and exploit profits’ with the slogan, "to speak of globalization".
As a result, Korean workers and people can not but face the crisis helplessly in front of the dreadful disasters that liberalization of the capital market and sale of national key industries may bring without any measures.
In 1998, the Electrical Workers Union established and executed many strategies to stop the restructuring of the electrical industry in front of such rapid change of national and international situations.
However, we had a limit to organize effective strikes due to worsened public opinion under the special situation of unilateral denunciation for public enterprises by public opinion organs and by the IMF system.
Favoring foreign power policy, favoring capital economy policy of the current government, and worsened public opinion against inefficiency of public enterprises was enough to lessen power of the Workers Union.
The strategy of the Korean government up to now, under the name of restructuring public enterprises, was to incapacitate the Workers Union by worsening public opinion using public opinion organizations and the Board of Audit & Inspection. This was done with a strategy to hinder the joint front by using different timing and methods for each public enterprise.
Also, the Korean government ignored the corporate agreement for such sensitive cases as pay and welfare for union members, and forced the agreement to be unilaterally lowered with only one government instruction. As a result, the government could achieve the strategy to break trust between the guidance division of the Workers Union and the site union members and effectively to build up the encroachment chance on national capital by supranational speculative capital, which is the purpose of restructuring.
We tried to state the views of the Workers Union through the Workers-Employer-Government Committee to get over the actual difficulty, but restructuring of the government laid stress on the demanding pain of workers.
In 1999, The Korean National Electrical Workers Union(KNEWU) built the nation-wide joint struggle front and decided to keep the electrical industry.
According to the decision, we organized the [Nation-wide Committee Opposing Sale of Electrical Industry to Foreign Countries] on last January 8, and are preparing for petition to the national assembly by spreading a campaign to collect signatures of 1000 persons.
The Committee was organized by the figures of all social standings opposing the forced program by the IMF.
They are the figures who played many roles in the process of democratization of Korea, and have won public confidence of pastors, pressmen, professors, social campaigners, labor campaigners and so on.
Up to now, the Committee has requested withdrawal of the government plan openly, and concentratedly brought unfairness of the government into relief, by participating in mass rallies, signature campaigns, other campaigns, public hearings and TV discussions.
The government, however, presented a special law for restructuring promotion of the electrical industry irrespective of such opposing public opinions, and the draft will be deliberated in the national assembly around mid October.
The Korean National Electrical Workers Union(KNEWU) and the ‘Nation-wide Committee’ plan to hold a large mass rally on October 3 to stop the deliberation. We also plan strikes around mid October when deliberation of the law is planned in the national assembly. We will achieve our will through the extreme means of strikes (strikes of electrical workers are illegal under the current Korean law), and will stop privatization of the electrical industry without fail.
Therefore, we vehemently hope for a joint front with international support for the ‘illegal strikes’ that Korean electrical workers spread.
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