Bucking a trend, civil servants opt to join "progressive" trade union umbrella group

Though a number of workers' groups have recently been moving away from the militant, chinbo-oriented Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), three civil servants unions with a combined membership of 115,000 have voted to join the group despite pressure from the Lee Myungbak administration not to do so.

The KCTU ran on promises to uproot corruption, which helped them defeat their rival, the more moderate Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), in a two-day vote. This is a victory for them after losing Ssangyong Motors and Korea Telecom (KT).

Frankly, I am no fan of the KCTU, which seems to be heavily influenced by a pro-Pyongyang platform, if not directed by North Korean operatives itself (yeah, that makes me sound paranoid).

I'm a big fan of the FKTU, if for no other reason than I think a labor union having F, K, and U in its name is way cool. (Seriously, though, I do think they present a good alternative to the mindless militancy of the KCTU, whose tactics can largely be summed up as cutting off their country's nose to spite its face.)