KGEU Celebrates 5th Anniversary of Union Establishment: March 23
A Significant Change in Union’s Stance on Basic Labour Rights Announced
Last Friday, March 23 was KGEU’s fifth anniversary of union establishment. President KWON Seung Bok, through his statement in commemoration of the anniversary, claimed that “the union will be registered regardless of form of the law, provided that the dismissed are reinstated and malignant clauses of the special act are revised, while the demand for the right to strike shall be postponed”. As he claimed “it is quite a significant change in the union’s stance on basic labour rights.” And he also stated that the government should come out for talks and negotiations with the union in accordance with this change.
Followings are some excerpts or summaries from his statement.
It has been 5 years since the KGEU was established in spite of all kinds of harsh repression by the government. It was a turning point through which government employees restored their name of workers as a proud part of democratic trade union movement in Korea, that had been taken away by the military regime in the past.
However, the situation that the KGEU is facing has not been changed. Instead, the violent repression by the government and neoliberal restructuring by the government are much more fiercely infiltrating into the civil service. Meanwhile, our struggles to defend the union and government employees’ rights to livelihood continue at this moment as well.
As we are well aware, our struggle and unity have fostered and developed the KGEU as a sole, independent and democratic trade union representing government employees’ hope for truthful reform of civil service.
Yet, the KGEU faces a serious reality.
A violent gale of neoliberal policies by the ROH Moo Hyun government is destroying civil services and degenerating it into vehicle for promotion of private interests. The pension is being deteriorated. The total wage system for restructuring is getting prevalent, and government employees are being forcibly kicked out from their office in the name of promoting effectiveness and competitiveness. In short, our rights to livelihood are at a crisis.
At the same time, the government refuses any talks and negotiations with the KGEU, the representative and independent association of hundreds of thousand government employees. Instead, the government, ignoring all the recommendations and protests from international community, is devoted to destroying our union.
The arbitrary and violent repression on the union and introduction of restructuring programmes endangering government employees’ rights to livelihood will result in strong resistance and struggle of government employees. What I’m deeply concerned over is that this kind of confrontation will only cause serious damage to ordinary people, for whom the civil services are provided.
After having converged extensively the various opinions from our members and various strata of the trade union movement regarding government employees’ basic labour rights, I officially call on the government to come out for direct negotiations with the union in the direction as follows;
“The union will be registered regardless of form of the law, provided that the dismissed are reinstated and malignant clauses of the special act are revised, while the demand for the right to strike shall be postponed.”
It is a significant change from KGEU’s stance of “full guarantee of major 3 trade union rights based on general labor law”. I ask for the government to also withdraw its attitude of refusing any talks with the union and to come out for earnest negotiations with the union in accordance with this change on our side.
And dear colleagues,
Despite that neoliberal attacks on civil services are endangering our pride and rights to livelihood, our union is unable to focus fully on mobilizing struggles against the attacks due to the internal contention on what stance our union should take on the special act. Continuing this kind of contention will only result in negligence of government employees and their families’ rights to livelihood.
As president of the union, I promise you that the union will do its utmost to realise negotiations on basic labour rights with the government based on the proposal above. And all the process will obviously be shared with the members. And when the result of the negotiations is approved by the members, the union will be registered even during my term in office.
We have established and defended our union in spite of the ferocious repression by the government. From these struggles, hundreds of our members have been dismissed and thousands disciplined. Without any change of the special act and reinstatement of the dismissed and the disciplined, how would it be possible for us to register the union and accept the special act?
Let’s end the internal contention. Let’s get united again and concentrate on the struggle to defend our members’ rights to livelihood and our union.
Unity is the way to take. Fighting back is the way to take, to overcome the difficulties.
Let’s rejuvenate our spirit that has established and defend the union.
Meetings with Ministers
On March 14, a meeting took place between KCTU and the labour minister LEE Sang Soo, at which presidents of KCTU’s affiliated federations and industrial unions participated. KGEU President KWON Seung Bok also took part in the meeting.
KCTU claimed that government employees should be fully granted basic labour rights. For example, the scope of government employees who are eligible to join trade unions should be more expanded and the right to collective action should also be respected. But the answer of the minister was the same as usual. He repeated that the KGEU should foremost register itself in accordance with the special act and that if there are any problems in implementing the special act after registering, joint discussion could be arranged.
KGEU president KWON Seung Bok claimed that the special act is nothing but fetters and shackles that set serious limits to government employees’ trade union activities, and that the government has inhumanely and barbarously oppressed the KGEU just because it has not registered in accordance with the special act. He also pointed out that even after having implemented crackdown on KGEU local offices shortly after the ILO ARM last year, the government is once again warning forcible closure during upcoming days. Lastly, he asked the Minister if the KGEU is an illegal organisation. The answer was “a union outside the law not an illegal organisation.”
The KCTU and the KGEU proposed forming a task force team between the government and the KCTU to deal with the matters on basic labour rights of government employees, teachers and professors.
This meeting was part of series of meetings that KCTU’s new president LEE Seok Haeng is promoting with relevant ministers. So far he has met with ministers of Labour, Construction and Transportation, Planning and Budget, Health and Welfare, and Government Administration and Home Affairs.
The meeting with the minister of Government Administration and Home Affairs was on March 29. The KCTU informed the ministry that KGEU president would be accompanied as a precedent. So far the presidents concerned from KCTU affiliated federations or industrial unions have been accompanied at the meetings with the ministers. But the KGEU couldn’t participate in the meeting with the MOGAHA due to its opposition that there’s no talks with the KGEU, an illegal organisation.
16 Members of U.S. Congress Criticise Labour Conditions in Korea
On March 23, 16 members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to Korean President ROH Moo Hyun urging him to take action as soon as practicable to improve “markedly worsened” labour conditions in Korea and to fully implement the recommendations of the ILO.
In a letter, they expressed deep concerns about forcible closure of KGEU’s local offices and using brute force to evict the members from the offices, and imprisonment of workers for the legitimate exercise of trade union rights. They claimed that the fact that the crackdown on the KGEU shortly took place shortly after Korea had hosted the ILO ARM was incredible.
The letter also states that Korea was expected to improve and reform labour conditions after the country joined the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1996, but instead the situation has markedly worsened.
March 22nd World Water Day: Day of Action against Water Privatization
On 22nd March, KGEU and organizations under Joint Action against Water Privatization took to the streets to oppose the Korean government’s ‘Plan to Foster the Water Industry’ – a plan that is essentially aimed at introducing market competition to so-called ‘water market’ by adopting public-private partnership in municipal waterworks and eventually full privatization of water in Korea.
At 13:30, President KWON Seung Bok of KGEU and leaders from Joint Action organizations, such as Professors for Democratic Society, People’s Solidarity for Social Progress, Citizens’ Council for Tapwater, People’s Welfare Solidarity, Korean Federation of Public Services & Transportation Workers’ Unions (KPTU) and others, gathered in front of the ASEM Center to hold an outdoor press conference. The Korean government’s official Water Day ceremony was due to start at 14:00 inside the Center.
In his opening speech, President KWON commented, “The ‘Plan to Foster the Water Industry’ is a policy that will commodify water for the benefit of the rich. This kind of neoliberal wave is now infiltrating into water, which is our life itself.” Professor Kim Se Gyun of Professors for Democratic Society said, “Water privatization, which is turning over water – a public good –to transnational capital, will only bring further polarization of our society.”
KWON Soo Jung, vice president of KPTU read out the press statement. “On World Water Day, which was designated by the UN in order to recognize the value of water as a public good, the government is going in the opposite direction while holding an elaborate ceremony. It is promoting water privatization. We designate today as a day of action against water privatization, during which we will implement campaigns to tell the public about water privatization, which will only bring disaster to the society,” the statement read.
In the evening, activists of Joint Action against Water Privatization went to Boshingak in center of Seoul for a street campaign. Joint Action set up exhibitions explaining the reality of water privatization, handed out leaflets and badges, and gave short comic performances parodying President ROH Moo Hyun. It was the first joint action between KGEU and activists from various NGOs and movements, as well as being an occasion to inform the public about the policies that the government is promoting.
Joint Action will continue its activities educating workers and citizens, as well as organizing more regional workshops to mobilize local groups. The next workshop will be held on 12th April in Namwon, a small city in Jeonbuk Province, where the city mayor is keen on adopting public-private partnership for waterworks.
The KGEU will also convene in late April a national meeting of KGEU chapter chairs of those cities and towns that have signed preliminary contracts with Korean Water Resources Corporation (KOWACO) for concession of waterworks, to discuss and strategize resistance on the local level against the adoption of PPPs. Municipals that have signed preliminary contracts number 32 out of 164 municipals, those that have actually adopted PPP 9, and municipals where PPP was stopped as a result of resistance of KGEU and local communities amount to 4.
Korea-U.S. FTA Concluded against the Will of the Korean People People’s Protest Goes On
Excerpts from “No FTA Newsletter”(Apr. 5) of Korean Alliance against KorUS FTA
On Sunday April 1 at 4:00pm, taxi driver and KCTU member Heo Sae-wook stood before the Nam San Hyatt Hotel, where that final high-level FTA negotiations were taking place, and lit himself on fire chanting, “Down with the Korea-U.S. FTA”. His cries could still be heard afterwards as he was rushed to the Yongsan Critical Care Hospital. He has since been moved to Hangang Seongsim Hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Mr. Heo’s self-immolation is a clear indication of the rage Korean workers, farmers, and common people feel at Roh Moo-hyun Administration’s relentless effort to conclude the FTA, and the desperation they feel at the prospect of the future that the FTA holds in store for them. (KCTU News)
Nonetheless, on April 2 at 1:00pm, less than one day later, Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong announced that an agreement had been reached. The Korea-U.S. FTA has been concluded with no regard for the mass opposition from the Korean people, their allies throughout Asia, and American organized labor and civil society. It has never been more obvious than now that this FTA is the unilateral project of the USTR Office and the Bush and Roh administrations, pushed through above the demands of both country’s peoples.
The last round of high-level negotiations, which went on past two deadline extension over the weekend of April 1, were surrounded by intense protests, including Mr. Heo’s self-immolation. On Friday, May 30, the day the talks were originally scheduled to end, farmers, workers and social movement organizations held a press conference near the Blue House (the President’s residence) during the afternoon. A candle light vigil at City Hall Square held later in the evening was attended by several thousand. At the conclusion of this event participants took to the streets and attempted to march to the Blue House, but were stopped by riot police. They then began a sit-down protest despite cold weather and rain, determined to rally until the result of the negotiations came out, only to hear that the United States had asked for a 48-hour extension of the talks. On the evening of April 1, thousands took to the streets again, this time evading police enough to get within blocks of the Blue House, but heard that the U.S. had again extended the talks; the conclusion of the FTA was not announced until 1:00pm the following day.
The Korea-U.S. FTA, as we feared, promises gains only for investors and big business and represents an attack on the livelihood of farmers, worker, and common people. The government and mainstream media are lauding the removal of U.S. tariffs on automobiles, auto parts, and textiles as huge successes, but we know that the benefits these measures will bring to capital in no way outweigh the negative impact increased competition will have on wages and workers rights in both countries. In the area of agriculture, although rice was exempted, the phasing out of tariffs on beef, pork, and oranges severely endangers Korea’s rural communities. In addition, the lowering of beef-related health and safety standards to allow both boneless and bone-in American beef is expected to come after the meeting of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Longer patents for pharmaceuticals will mean a rise in drug costs for individuals and a taxing of the national healthcare system, and the opening of satellite broadcasting to foreign investors and reduction of protection for Korean programming will erode the unique cultural character of Korea’s audio-visual industry.
If this agreement goes into effect, it will put Korean people’s health, culture, and environment at risk. We must not let this happen. Our struggle is far from over. As we continue to hold nightly candlelight vigils and other protests, we will step up our efforts to win support for our struggle in the Korean Parliament and U.S. Congress and continue to build solidarity with all peoples struggling against US-led free trade agreements. With a recent survey showing that over 80% of Korean people opposed concluding the FTA on the TPA timeline, with a Korean worker driven to suicide protest by the prospect of the FTA becoming a reality, with protests swelling despite government repression, it is clear that the conclusion of the agreement goes against the will of the Korean people. Through the strength of the people’s determination, we will defeat the Korea-U.S. FTA.
KIM Seok
C.P. : +82-(0)16-237-5940
email: kisto jinbo.net kisto kgeu.org
Executive Director of International Relations
Korean Government Employees’ Union
Tel: +82-2-2631-1948 Fax: +82-2-2631-1949
Web: (Kor) http://www.kgeu.org (Eng) http://inter.kgeu.org