hankyoreh

By Lee Jung-gook, staff reporter

The International Labour Organization (ILO) made an “urgent intervention” after the South Korean government decided on Aug. 2 to reject the notice of establishment submitted by the Korean Government Employees’ Union (KGEU).

“The International Labour Organization sent the South Korean Minister of Employment and Labor a letter on Aug. 8,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said on Aug. 19. “Noting that the ILO had heard that the KGEU’s notice of establishment had been rejected for the fourth time, the letter asked the South Korean government to express its opinion on the matter as quickly as possible in consideration of the seriousness of the matter.”

“Urgent intervention” refers to sending a letter in the name of the ILO director-general without an ILO committee having passed a resolution to do so.

The letter was sent after the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) requested an urgent intervention. It was the second urgent intervention made by the ILO since Park Geun-hye took office in February as president of South Korea.

The other ILO urgent intervention was made in March in response to signs that the South Korean government would define the Korea Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) as an “outsider union.” The ILO requested the government to revise regulations related to trade unions that do not conform to international standards, as it had previously recommended.

The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has been dealing with the question of the establishment of a trade union for South Korean government workers from 1995 to the present as case no. 1865. During the 313th meeting of its board of directors in Mar. 2012, the ILO addressed the issue of a clause allowing terminated employees to join the trade union, which was the crux of the Korean government’s reason for rejecting the trade union‘s notice of establishment.

“Trade unions have the authority to include terminated employees on their roll of members, and a clause acknowledging the membership of terminated employees is not an appropriate reason to deny a request to establish a trade union,” the ILO said.

On 13 occasions, the ILO has recommended that Korea abolish laws that forbid terminated employees and the unemployed from maintaining their eligibility as trade union members and that forbid people who are not authorized to be union members from representing the union.

“We are also planning to file a motion with the Committee on Freedom of Association about the Korean government’s denial of the notice of establishment of the KGEU in order to elicit an even firmer recommendation from the ILO,” said KCTU International Director Ryu Mi-kyung.

“While it is true that a letter was sent, it was not an official procedure but more of an inquiry about our opinion,” said an official at the Ministry of Employment and Labor on condition of anonymity. “The related department is currently reviewing the content of the letter.”

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