Center for the Study of Democracy

This paper examines how different the two Korean national union federations create and consolidate union democracy according to their organizational characteristics and how the difference in union democracy between these two federations affects movement activities of their local unions. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), which has cooperated with the authoritarian state power and hegemony of capital, rarely challenges the fundamentals of the capitalist system and seldom encourages the full democratic participation of its members. In contrast, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a group of independent unions which is familiar with a wide range of political radicalism, always challenges the hegemony of global capitalism. Compared to FKTU-affiliated unions, KCTU-affiliated unions, which have been historically more involved in 'insurgent political practices,' have developed internal democracy, especially participatory democracy. In addition, the KCTU and its constituents have tried to resist 'the hegemony of capital in the sphere of politics' through participating in the political party system while continuously challenging 'the hegemony of capital in the sphere of production' through their union actions. To examine differences in union democracy between the two federations and their constituents I compare various union activities, including the decision-making process, elections and education, by focusing on 1) how historical experiences affect union leaders’ political consciousness about creating union democracy, 2) how both federations and their affiliated unions create union democracy, and 3) what kind of outcomes are produced from the process of building union democracy.