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E.Land sems to be out to destroy its shop workers' union:

Another failed negotiating session raises serious questions about Korean retailer's real motives

Is leading Korean retailer E.Land serious about wanting to resolve the massive labour conflict, which was sparked by an ill-concieved mass dismissal of hundreds of so-called non-regular workers? Even if several negoting sessions have taken place, the impression is that the company approaches them as something they have to participate in under pressure from government and public opinion. A real resolve to reach results appears to be missing.

If E.Land really wanted to improve its destroyed relations with its own personnel after having called for riot police to be sent to clamp down on their sit-in strikes in Seoul and to drag hundreds of young women workers to police jails, they would have taken a different attitude to the talks with their union.

Management continues to rely on police repression

Instead of entering into serious discussions with the E.Land workers' trade union, which has clearly shown its preparedness to accomodate a resonable solution to the open labour issues, management continues to rely on police repression.

Calls on the company to join the requests for a release of union president Kim Kyung-wook have not lead to any response. Instead, it seems obvious that management would want to see also other unionists being locked up.

How can there be free and fair negotiations and a solution to the bitter labour conflict if the workers' negotiators have to fear arrest every time they arrive to participate in talks with the company?

E.Land failed to honour the commitments made

when buying Carrefour's store chain

When E.Land bought its Homever chain of 32 hypermarkets from Carrefour last year, it made a commitment to keep the workers on the job and to respect the collective agreement relationship with their union. Less than a year later, the company had failed to respect both commitments.

But it is not only the Homever workers who are targeted by management. The massive outsourcing and related lay-offs of supermarket cashiers in the Kim's Club discount stores, which E.Land backed away from only when the workers' reaction showed that this would be impossible to get by with, are other examples of arrogant and unskilled personnel management.

Is the company out to destroy its workers' trade union?

Instead of using normal negotiations to get out of this tangled web, E.Land's management seems to persist in its efforts to get rid of its workers' trade union. Huge compensation claims have been filed against the E.Land workers'union as well as its federation KFSU and confederation KTUC, for losses that the retailer says were incurred by the sit-in strikes. Many workers have also received individual compensation claims from their employer, and seen their wage payments frozen.

There is no question about how trade unions both in Korea and around the world must react to this challenge. E.Land will not be allowed to destroy its workers' trade union and to disable the labour relations and collective bargaining machinery, supported by police repression of trade union action.

Trade union movement steps up its response

In Korea itself, the entire trade union movement is closing up around the harassed E.Land workers and their union. On the global level, UNI will step up its support activities. A UNI Korea Liaison Council meeting in Seoul today, with the presence of both UNI and UNI Commerce, and the UNI Asia and Pacific Region will give an opportunity to agree on the action to be taken.

For more stories and pictures on the E.Land workers' struggle, go to the dedicated UNI Commerce webpage:

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