President Yoon Compares Trucker Strike to North Korean Nuclear Threats
I don’t think this is a good analogy to compare truckers trying to get higher wages with the mafia state in North Korea:
President Yoon Suk-yeol has likened the ongoing truckers strike to North Korea’s nuclear threats, saying the government should respond sternly with principles like it does to protect the people from Pyongyang’s repeated actions of menace.
“If we had pursued (consistent) North Korea policies based on the principle of nuclear intolerance, we wouldn’t be facing North Korea’s nuclear threat as we do now,” he was quoted as saying by multiple officials, according to Yonhap News Agency on Monday.
“The vicious cycle will repeat if we give in to (their) illegal activities and violence,” he said, stressing union leadership should be sternly punished for blocking members from returning to work.
Korea Herald
What I can agree with is that the KCTU based on their past activities is sympathetic to the North Korean regime:
His party, the People Power Party, went further, claiming the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the umbrella group initiating the ongoing strike, “represents the interest of the North Korean regime.”
Park Jung-ha, a senior spokesperson of the People Power Party, accused the KCTU of taking orders from North Korea to initiate anti-US and anti-government struggles, denouncing that it should change its name to “Minrochong,” a North Korean way of referring to Minnochong, by which the KCTU is known in Korean.
Here is what the truckers are protesting about:
The truckers union has been on a general strike since Nov. 24, saying the government has failed to keep up its end of the bargain to continue the safe trucking freight rate system that both sides had agreed on in June to end an eight-day strike at the time. The safe trucking freight rate system is a measure that guarantees minimum cargo rates for truck drivers to prevent dangerous driving and overwork. It also imposes fines on shippers who pay less than the minimum rate. It was introduced as a three-year system in 2020 and expires at the end of this year.
I am supportive of higher pay for truck drivers, however what I don’t support is unions threatening and assaulting other truck drivers to prevent them from going to work.
The truckers’ union chose to attack South Korea’s economy instead of pursuing negotiations. They were greedy and evil.
While some may deserve more pay, not all work that diligently.
Unions have become nothing more than communist thugs.
It’s up to them to correct their image. And their actions to damage civilians makes Yoon look more justified.
Compare and contrast to the truckers in Canada who merely attempted to shut down one town…
They were greedy and evil.
Extending the minimum wage agreed to during the Moon administration is greedy and evil?
Nice strawman, TOK. Who agreed to extra wages? If they don’t like the pay they should shut down an already fragile economy blasted by Moon’s incompetence (or malice)?
You and many others ignore the dastardly role unions played in supporting communists throughout the 20th Century, ignore the businesses lost or hanging on by their fingernails after all the unnecessary covid lockdowns, and think those truckers ALL, to a man, deserve more money just for being present.
Well, South Korea is, I assume, yours. And you’ve got to see what will happen when the new strike forces another 5-10 percent out of the workforce.
Yes. Greedy and evil is correct. Thugs extorting money from innocent people is greedy and evil. And if you had 2 brain cells to rub together, you’d know when wages go up, prices go up to match.
Go soak in that.
And if you had 2 brain cells to rub together, you’d know when wages go up, prices go up to match
You know for once there, I thought setnaffa was our CEO.
Strange words from someone, who claims to be part of the working middle class.
If setnaffa had a brain, he would have realized that’s how capitalist economies work.
As an economy develops and more money flows in, it is natural for workers to demand more of their fair share.
Of course prices will go up, but that’s not the entire single reason and on the other hand wages will go up to match those price increases.
We also all know that more and more of the greedy big corporations want to keep more of the money for themselves, which of course leads to unhappy workers striking if they feel they are not getting their fair share.
At the end, a compromise is reached where both sides get pretty much what they wanted but not everything they wanted.
The workers will also get some form of wage increases as a result of that compromise so they can feed and care for their families and enjoy some luxuries.
And it is those workers with the extra money to enjoy those luxuries that ensures that businesses and economies flourish, while not creating civil disruption issues for governments.
The problem with the Yoon government is before attempting to compromise they are simply trying to shut down the program that Moon started.
Yes, Korean labor unions tend to go to the extreme, but that doesn’t excuse the Yoon government from picking an unnecessary fight.
The other alternative is the Socio-communist system where workers are more or less guaranteed a job and some money to buy non-existent stuff in a single store and rations to ensure that your family won’t starve.
Here there is no need to worry about price increases since the prices will stay the same because everything is centrally planned.
And since the workers are supposed to be “happy” no strikes to boot.
Despite his anti-communist ramblings, it looks like setnaffa is rooting for the communist system.
Which makes me wonder. Does he support the Russian and the Chinese way of life as Korean Person loves to claim?