Investigators from the Fair Trade Commission are waiting in front of the Public Transportation Workers Union office in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the morning of 2. Provided by the Public Transportation Union
The Fair Trade Commission is confronting union officials attempting to enter the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) office, which is on a general strike, to investigate whether the cargo union headquarters violated the Fair Trade Act.
According to the Public Transportation Workers Union’s explanations, on the 2nd, FTC investigators visited the Public Transportation Union Building in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, where the Cargo Solidarity Office is located around 10:00: 00 on the same day. Investigators have been waiting in front of the building since 11 a.m. as union officials blocked the FTC’s entrance.
The union side said, “There is no one who can answer or take responsibility for the FTC investigation or not,” and the FTC is standing by to ask for the contact information of the responsible person, a union official said.
Since the 29th of last month, the Fair Trade Commission has been examining whether the cargo union violated the Fair Trade Act. It is a question of whether the cargo union’s refusal to transport falls within the scope of the Fair Trade Act as an “act unfair joint” and “prohibited act by corporate groups”. The Fair Trade Commission set the investigation period from this day to the 6th, excluding weekends, for three days.
As for the FTC’s attempt to investigate, union circles point out that the government is pushing a “double standard” in cargo union. The Fair Trade Commission investigation assumes the cargo union is a “business organization,” but the start-to-work order that forces individual businessmen to work is inconsistent.
In a statement on the 29th last month, the cargo workers union said: “Even if a cargo worker is an ‘individual operator’ rather than a ‘worker’ after making a hundred concessions, the order to start work it violates the freedom to choose an occupation under the Constitution”. It is absurd that the government forces and intervenes to do the job, saying it will stop it,” he said.
