Strike and Social Solidarity

: The Case of the 2013 Korean Railway Strike

Abstract

This article focuses on the strike of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union against railway privatization and the solidarity of university students in 2013. This article examines the activities of railway unions to establish social solidarity before and after the strike, the reasons why university students supported the strike, and finally, mechanisms for how the union and civil society could form solidarity. This article concludes that the KRWU particularly valued solidarity with civic groups in its struggle against privatization, and that the establishment of “social publicity theory” played an important role in the formation of solidarity. The case of KRWU is a useful model that other labor unions can use to build solidarity with civil society.