URGENT call to unions in OECD member countries: Tell your government to support continued monitoring of labour conditions in South Korea

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and its umbrella union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, need your support to ensure genuine trade union rights in South Korea.

In order to decide whether OECD countries continue the special mornitoring process on South Korea, its Committee for Employment, Labor and Social Affairs (ELSAC) will have a meeting in Paris on April 23, 2007. Because the South Korean government still ignores workers' freedom of association, the KCTU (with 800,000 members) hopes that the monitoring process continues to pressure the government to reform labour laws in line with internationally accepted standards.

KTU asks unions in OECD member countries to press their governments to vote to continue the mornitoring process.

Below is the text of the KCTU's open letter to Trade Union Advisory Committee affilitates:

On behalf of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), I am writing for your support to ensure genuine trade union rights in South Korea. In 1996, amidst much hoopla and after decades of economic development, South Korea had finally joined the "economic elite" when it joined the OECD. At the time, the then Kim Young Sam government committed to "reform existing laws on industrial relations in line with internationally accepted standards, including those concerning basic labor rights such as the freedom of association and collective bargaining." Following the moves by the then government in the opposite direction in December 1996 and subsequent concerns expressed by the ILO, TUAC and a number of OECD member countries, the OECD Council instructed the Committee for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELSAC), to "monitor closely the progress made on labour reforms in the light of that commitment." That process has continued to date.

Ten years have passed and despite claims made by the South Korean government under the Roh Moo Hyun administration, South Korean labor laws and industrial relations system are still short of international standards. Yet, the government is once again pushing for an end to the Special Monitoring Process which will be reviewed by the ELSAC Committee when it meets on April 23rd in Paris. The KCTU fully and adamantly oppose this position and we ask your support in maintaining and enhancing the Special Monitoring Process until the South Korean government meets international labor law standards including basic labour rights of the freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The KCTU recognizes that there has been some progress in the area of trade union rights in the past decade such as the legalization of KCTU and Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union. Yet, it should be noted that this progress is a result of the struggle of South Korean workers and international monitoring process to push for change. Especially international pressure put forth by trade unions such as yours have had a tremendous impact. Despite these efforts both within and outside of South Korea, the government has failed to fully reform labor laws in line with international labour standards.

Today, the KCTU is no longer considered to be an "illegal organization benefiting the enemy," as it was deemed by the government ten years ago. Nevertheless, the government still deliberately isolates and alienates the KCTU. This was clearly evident when the KCTU was excluded from the critical September 11 meeting last year on the discussion of a new Industrial Relations "Road Map." Although the South Korean government had claimed that the objective behind the "Road Map" was to "build industrial relations that conform to international standards," in reality the agreement is completely contrary to this goal. The prime reasons are that the government has once again deferred the existence of multiple unions at the enterprise level for another three years, provision to prevent wage payment to full-time union officials by employer has also remained to be solved and the scope of essential public service has been expanded to blood supplying and aviation industry.

In addition to the problematic contents of the "Road Map," the South Korean government continues its systematic repression against the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU). As it did when it hosted last year's ILO Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Busan, the South Korean government has once again, on March 7th, called for a shut down of the KGEU offices that were not forcibly closed last year.

In spite of the that the government enacted a law on government employees union in December 2004 and it went into effect in January 2006, it should noted that the ILO has requested the government in March 2006, to give consideration to further measures aimed at ensuring that the rights of public employees are fully guaranteed by:

1. ensuring that public servants at Grade 5 or higher obtain the right to form their own associations to defend their interests and that this category of staff is not defined so broadly as to weaken the organizations of other public employees;
2. guaranteeing the right of firefighters to establish and join organizations of their own choosing;
3. limiting any restrictions of the right to strike to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State and essential services in the strict sense of the term;
4. allowing the negotiating parties to determine on their own the issue of whether trade union activity by full-time union officials should be treated as unpaid leave.

Last March, the Committee of Freedom of Association also made several recommendations against the South Korean government regarding construction workers' union repression in South Korea. The Committee stated that, "The Committee expresses its deep concern at the fact that the exercise by the KFCITU of legitimate trade union activities in the defense of construction site workers, including through collective bargaining, has been perceived as a criminal activity and give rise to the institution of massive investigation and police intervention."

The Committee recommended that the South Korean government to "issue appropriate instructions so that all actions of intimidation and harassment against the KFCITU officials cease immediately." The Committee further requested the government to, review all convictions and prison sentences, and to compensate the KFCITU officials for any damages suffered as a result of their prosecution, detention, and imprisonment.

Instead of implementing these recommendations; thus in doing so would be in line with international labor standards, the government instead has chosen to launch a full-fledged campaign vilifying the KCTU and its affiliated unions. The South Korean government is even rejecting any request for dialogue to resolve the issue of public officials' labour rights by the KGEU and KCTU, stating that the KGEU is an 'illegal organization.'

Finally, the South Korean government still ciminalizes trade union activities. In 2006, 271 workers and union leaders were arrested and the total numbers of arrested workers and union leaders for the past four years since President Roh Moo Hyung took office is 921. Of those arrested last year, 152 workers were charged with the "obstruction of business" (section 314 of the Penal Code). This shows clearly that the South Korean government has failed "to bring section 314 of the Penal Code (obstruction of business) in line with freedom of association principles" as requested by the ILO.

The South Korean government has claimed that it has reformed labor laws in line with international standards and it will attempt to aggressively argue this point at the upcoming ELSAC Committee hoping that the OECD will end the Special Monitoring Process in South Korea. The KCTU representing more than 800,000 union members in South Korea vehemently oppose this argument made by the government. We believe that the Special Monitoring Process should still be in place as this is critical in pushing the South Korean government to actually implement and initiate policies and legislations that would truly be in line with international standards.

We strongly request your support by putting pressure your governments to urging the ELSAC Committee which will be held on April 23rd to maintain and enhance the Special Monitoring Process until the South Korean government takes appropriate and concrete measures in good faith for Korean labour laws, especially above-mentioned pending crucial issues, to be brought into line with international labour standards.

In Solidarity,

Lee Suk-Haeng
President

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