Labour and Development in East Asia: Social Forces and Passive Revolution by Kevin Gray

Author:Kevin Gray [Gray, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Developing & Emerging Countries, Social Science, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317613107
Google: vwvEBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 23370085
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Political democratisation and the labour surge

Following the democratic aperture, this dual nature of the democratic state was heightened by the extension of the democratic struggle to the economic sphere; as such, both Korea and Taiwan saw a strong surge in labour militancy in the late 1980s. In line with the relative differences between the countries, the labour surge in Korea was of a more dynamic and militant nature. As noted, the Korean developmental state had been responsible for imposing harsh restrictions on labour unions, allowing management to compel workers to work long hours, endure a high rate of industrial accidents, and receive low wages that did not keep up with gains in productivity (Park 2001, p. 63). This exploitative labour relations regime thereby failed to provide a sustainable basis for capital accumulation. As Bello and Rosenfield (1992, p. 44) have argued, ‘by aligning itself with business to create a solid phalanx of opposition to labor in the thirty years of high-speed of industrialisation, the Korean state provided no significant safety valves for working class resentment.’ Furthermore, the anticommunist and paternalistic Confucian ideology mobilised in favour of the repressive system of labour relations was ultimately counterproductive in that it served to encourage the emergence of a militant working-class consciousness (Koo 2001).

As a result, from the late 1980s, the Korean state and capital were increasingly unable to control labour unrest and, by extension, wage costs. Within two weeks of the 29th June declaration, workers went on to conduct the largest wave of protests and strikes in the country’s history. Production was halted in the southeastern industrial cities of Pusan, Masan, Ch’angwǒn, and Ulsan and militant labour struggles broke out at many of the largest chaebǒl, including Hyundai, Daewoo, Lucky Goldstar, Kia, and Samsung. From the southeastern regions in which the heavy industries are concentrated, the unrest quickly spread to the rest of the country. This labour surge was not limited to workers in manufacturing, however, but also involved bus and taxi drivers, miners, fisherman, and office workers. Indeed, this workers’ uprising bore striking similarities to the immediate post-liberation unrest in 1945, which saw an intense period of social organisation and protest. Between the months of July and September 1987 alone, a total of 3,111 cases of labour unrest, including work stoppages, wild cat strikes, and demonstrations, were recorded (Koo 2001, p. 157). As Table 4.1 shows, a total of 3,749 strikes took place in 1987, up from 276 the year before. It is important to note, however, that these struggles initially took place in a relatively permissive economic and political environment. Since 1986, Korea had been experiencing a period known as the ‘three lows’ (sam chǒ), which included a weak dollar relative to the yen, making Korea’s exports more competitive and inducing an export boom to the United States; falling global oil prices, which reduced Korea’s energy import costs; and low international interest rates, which helped Korea to reduce its foreign debts. Korean corporations were thus initially able to absorb the rapid wage increases of the late 1980s.

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