Korea, public officials union joins labour union
The decision taken to increase political weight in negotiations. The Korean Government Employees' Union protest new laws which govern the work of public administration employees.
Seoul (AsiaNews) After a series of discussions and internal debate a public employee's union the "Korean Government Employees' Union" (Udgc) has decided to join the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of Korea's two labour umbrella groups", to develop a stronger voice for workers in negotiations.
About 78 percent of the KGEU's 110,000 electorate participated in Friday's vote, and 70 percent of them approved joining the KCTU. The decision further distances between union and government who has labelled KGEU's joining a labour umbrella group as unlawful.
The movement by the public servants' union to join a labour umbrella group comes in protest of the Local Government Workers Act, which goes into effect today and allows public servants to organize but limits their rights. This act prohibits public servants in certain sectors or positions from joining unions. The KGEU and another public servants' union, the Confederation of Government Employees' Unions (CGEU), are denouncing the act, implemented last week and said they will remain outside of the legal boundaries to pressure the government for stronger rights. For its' part, the government maintains that KGEU's joining of the labour umbrella group and its movement to form union leadership is illegal, meaning that it would have no authority to negotiate working conditions for its members.
The KGEU has more than 140,000 members nationwide, and together with the CGEU ( 70,000 members) represents low-level government workers. Adding its new membership, the KCTU becomes the largest labor umbrella group in Korea, covering more than 800,000 workers in various industrial sectors, thus overtaking second largest umbrella group is the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) with some 780,000 members.
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