Organizing negotiation and resistance: The role of Korean union federations as institutional mediators

This project examines labor union responses to the Korean governments' far-reaching restructuring process brought on by international pressure for economic globalization by focusing, in particular, on the role of national labor federations in organizing negotiation and resistance. The particular forms of political action taken by Korean unions have been mediated through the organization of two national labor federations with strikingly different approaches to social, political, and economic change. The KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) is identified with independent unions, which have emerged only within the past decade and have proliferated since the legalization of their umbrella federation in 1995. The KCTU independent unions are far more radical and more likely to pursue political actions aimed at resisting economic reforms which threaten the job security and labor conditions of workers than are unions in the alternative federation, the FKTU (Federation of Korean Trade Unions). The FKTU was established by the Korean government several decades ago largely for its own political purposes. Unions in this federation pursue a business unionism and a conciliatory strategy.; The mediating role the two national federations play between the state labor policies and local labor union activities has had significant impact on both labor management relations at the workplaces level as well as on nationwide labor movements. I have argued that these two Korean federations have very different ideologies, strategies and organizational networks and this has a profound causal effect on the actions taken by local unions. I compared the two federations primarily in terms of movement ideology and strategy based on research into the policies and actions of local unions from the FKTU to the KCTU. This research combined examination of documents, interviews and observations over an extended period of fieldwork in Korea.; FKTU affiliated unions focus more on immediate issues of organizing workers for better livelihood by relying on strategies appeasing the state and employers while KCTU affiliates emphasize more long-term issues of labor policy reform and raising working-class consciousness of members and do not hesitate to use radical strategies.; The comparison between the two federations' mediating role shows how structural and institutional factors other than familiar political forces affect local labor union movements, and how local union activities influence overall labor politics through the channel of federations' leadership. This project also offers a useful framework for understanding labor relations, especially the militancy of labor movements, by focusing on the two federations as institutional filters in labor politics.