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The leadership of the Korean Government Employees’ Union announces the passage of an amendment to rules governing the membership status of terminated employees at the 29th assembly of delegates held on the campus of Chonnam University in Gwangju

The Korean Government Employees' Union (KGEU) became a “legal union” for the first time in its nine-year history with an amendment to its regulations on dismissed workers. Recognition for the union, which is affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), came with its sixth establish notice since 2009.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) announced that it had granted an establishment accreditation on Mar. 29 after reviewing the union establishment notice submitted on Mar. 26. With that decision, the KGEU becomes a lawful union according to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Public Officials’ Unions, winning legal protections including the conclusion of collective agreements through collective bargaining and guarantees on full-time unionist activities.

The reason the government had refused to give the KGEU accreditation as a union was because of a rule about terminated employees. The current Act on Public-Sector Labor Unions does not allow terminated employees to enroll in unions. But the KGEU’s rules empower its central executive committee to keep fired employees on the rolls if they were terminated unfairly or are contesting the validity of their termination.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has rejected the union’s application for establishment because it regards this rule as violating the Act on Public-Sector Labor Unions, and the courts have ruled that the Ministry’s rejection was lawful. During an assembly of delegates on Mar. 24, the KGEU revised the rule about terminated employees’ membership in the union, with 77% voting in favor of the revision.

Since the current Act on Public-Sector Labor Unions prevents terminated employees from enrolling in unions and does not guarantee collective action, it has received considerable criticism from the international community on the grounds that it violates the freedom of association. Labor activists in South Korea have also called for the abolition of the act in order to fully guarantee the three rights of labor for government employees.

Factors in the KGEU’s decision to revise its rules under these circumstances appears to have been the pressure of having no legal recognition for so long and the fact that other public-sector unions, including the Confederation of Korean Government Employees’ Unions, do have that recognition.

“We ended up revising our rules because the government is holding to its position that it cannot give us legal recognition given the decisions reached by courts during the administrations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. Our position of support for the abolition of the Act on Public-Sector Labor Unions remains unchanged,” said a KGEU spokesperson.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), which lost its legal accreditation during the Park administration because of the membership of terminated employees just like the KGEU announced that it “does not intend to gain legal recognition by revising its rules.”

“Rather than passing the responsibility for legalization to the KTU, the government ought to hurry up and revise the law to guarantee the three rights of labor for all teaching staff and public servants,” said a KTU spokesperson.

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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