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철도노조 "노조원들 머물게 해달라고 조계종에 요청"

By 윤민식
Published : Dec. 25, 2013 - 17:44


업무방해 혐의로 체포영장이 발부된 전국철도노동조합 지도부 가운데 박태만 수석부위원장 등 일부가 조계사에 은신 중인 것으로 알려진 25일 오후 서울 종로구 조계사 인근에서 경찰들이 순찰하고 있다. (연합뉴스)



철도노조는 25일 ”지도부가 수배된 상태에서도 파업 대오는 흔들림이 없으며 투쟁을 지속할 것“이라고 밝혔다.

백성곤 철도노조 홍보팀장은 이날 오후 서울 용산구 철도회관에서 가진 언론브리핑에서 “지도부는 여전히 건재하며 총파업 투쟁을 지휘하고 있다”면서 “수배 중이라 불가피하게 피신한 상태이지만 이른 시일 내에 공개석상에 모습을 드러낼 계획”이라고 말했다.

백 팀장은 이날 “박태만 철도노조 수석부위원장을 비롯한 노조원들이 어제 오후 11시께 조계사에 들어갔다”며 “사전에 허락 없이 들어가게 돼 관계자 분들께 사과드린다”고 말했다.

백 팀장은 “어렵겠지만 조계종에서 철도노조 파업과 대화를 무시한 정부의 일방적 탄압, 이에 따른 사회적 갈등이 하루빨리 해결될 수 있도록 대승적 차원에서 중재 등 문제 해결을 위해 노력해주길 부탁드린다”고 요청했다.

그는 “노조원들이 조계사에 계속 머물 수 있게 해달라고 요청한 상태”라며 “오늘 조계종 종단 회의에서 이 문제를 논의하기로 했으며 결정되는 대로 노조가 다시 입장을 밝히겠다”고 말했다.

또 “현재 수배 중인 상황을 고려해 조계사 안에 머무는 노조원 수나 이들의 상황을 말씀드릴 수 없는 점을 이해해 달라”면서 “박 수석부위원장은 일단 조계사에 머물면서 파업을 계속 지휘해나갈 것”이라고 전했다.

애초 노조는 조계사 앞에서 입장을 밝힐 예정이었으나 조계사 측에서 취재진과 경찰이 몰려들 수 있다며 우려를 나타내 브리핑 장소를 철도회관으로 옮겼다.

백 팀장은 “지도부가 체포된다고 해도 2차 지도부와 비상대책위 등을 통해 파업을 이끌 것”이라며 “정부가 현 사태를 오판하고 끊임없이 탄압하려고 하면 노조는 더 강경한 방향으로 나아갈 수밖에 없다”고 말했다.

노조는 오는 26일 오후 4시 민주노총 확대간부 파업을 결의하는 전국 동시다발 규탄집회를 연다. 이어 28일 오후 3시에는 철도노조 조합원들의 3차 상경 집회가 예정돼 있다.

 



Railway unionist seek shelter in Jogyesa Temple

By Choi He-suk

Tensions mounted around Jogyesa Temple in Seoul on Wednesday with police surrounding the headquarters of the country’s largest Buddhist order to apprehend four railway strike leaders who took refuge there.

Railway union members, including deputy chief Park Tae-nam wanted for his part in leading the strike, entered the Jogyesa Temple late Tuesday.

Police deployed some 250 officers to surround and operate checkpoints at its grounds.

The railway union has been staging a general strike since Dec. 9 in protest of the government’s plans to place a subsidiary of state-run rail operator Korea Railroad Corp. in charge of a new KTX bullet train route. Despite repeated denials from the government and KORAIL, the union claims that setting up the subsidiary is a step towards railway privatization.

With no precedent of the authorities forcing their way into religious facilities, it is considered unlikely that the police will attempt to enter the temple to make an arrest.

Since the 1980s the Jogyesa Temple and Myeong-dong Cathedral have served as havens for labor and democracy activists wanted by the law. However, the Catholic church and the Jogye order have distanced themselves from such developments requesting protestors to leave, while the Jogyesa Temple has even requested police intervention in 2002.

As for the railway union, it announced that the strike will continue despite its leaders going into hiding.

“The union’s leadership remains intact and strong. The leaders are directing the strike and the union remains unshaken,” railway union public relations chief Baek Sung-gon said on Wednesday.

“The leaders are in hiding as they are wanted, but they will make a public appearance in the near future.”

Baek added that the railway union strongly opposes the police’s decision to seek a warrant to detain Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union chief Kim Jeong-hoon.

Kim was arrested during the Dec. 22 raid on the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ office for throwing broken glass at police officers. He is said to have thrown some 300 pieces and caused a 1.5-centimeter wound on a police officer.

Kim is the only one of the 138 unionists taken into custody that the police were seeking to detain.

As the police maintain a large presence around the temple, the main opposition Democratic Party raised concerns over another police raid, calling on the authorities to resolve the issue through negotiation.

“This is not the time for forceful suppression. I say again that conversation is the only means to resolving the situation,” DP spokesman Rep. Kim Kwan-young said.

“If the government and the ruling party take a step back and cooperate with the opposition’s suggestion of making a one-point revision to the Railroad Enterprise Act all problems will be solved.”

As a means to ending the strike, which has now lasted for 17 days, the DP has suggested including a clause against railway privatization in related regulations.

(cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)

 


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