Article

INTERNATIONAL SHORTS

Wharfies ban Indonesian ship, General Strike in South Korea

Wharfies ban Indonesian ship

Waterside workers and port employees in Darwin, Australia, placed a 24 hour ban on the Indonesian ship Fujar Kanguru on December 17th. This is part of the Aussie dockers protest action against the detention and trails of Indonesian union leaders Muchtar Pakpahan and Dita Sari now under way in Jakarta. The Maritime Union of Australia said there was "..no prospect of Mr . Pakpahan or Ms Sari receiving a fair trial."

The two union leaders face charges of subversion, which in Indonesia carry the death penalty. Their crime has been to build and lead independent unions in a country where only government-controlled unions are legal.

GENERAL STRIKE IN SOUTH KOREA

On December 29th 20,000 workers, shouting ''Down with (President) Kim Young-sam,'' marched on the ruling party headquarters as South Korea's largest ever strike entered its fourth day. The workers were allowed to march past the building. No arrests or injuries were reported.

The protesters were among 373,000 workers striking to demand the abolition of a law which threatens their job security. The 4-day-old strike has crippled hundreds of car, shipbuilding and other plants. The new law was passed in a special parliamentary session with no opposition members present.

The new law makes it easier for businesses to lay off employees en masse, something unheard of in South Korea. The government had tried to buy off workers by granting greater rights to unionise, but the new rights won't take effect for several years.

The car and shipbuilding industries were hardest hit. In addition to the leading car maker Hyundai, three other major manufacturers stood idle. South Korea is the world's sixth-largest car-maker, and gets about 30 percent of the world's shipbuilding orders.

Other key industries, such as semiconductors and electronics, as well as railroads and other utilities, have remained largely unaffected. The current strike is the nation's first organised nation-wide general strike. In the late 1980s, there was a lot of spontaneous worker and student unrest.