hankyoreh

March 20.

The Lee Myung-bak administration has decided to dispense heavy-handed punishments to the government employees who attended the launching ceremony of the Korean Government Employees’ Union (KGEU) and a rally of union leaders on March 20 and expel union leaders who actively participated from public office. The KGEU said the launching ceremony is an event that has been held annually since 2003, and that the Lee administration is misusing its authority to hand out heavy punishments without asking questions in order to repress government employee unions critical of the government.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) said Wednesday that KGEU, which had its foundation notification documents returned on two occasions by the Ministry of Labor, had violated the law by pushing though with a launching ceremony after issuing protests. MOPAS said it has made the decision to fire 18 union leaders, including 13 headquarters heads including KGEU Vice Chairman Park Yi-jae (an employee at Masan City Hall) and Secretary General Ra Il-ha (an employee at Anyang City Hall). It also plans to punish all government employees who attended the rally after confirming their identities. Union Chairman Yang Seong-yun (an employee of Seoul’s Yangcheon-gu Office) was fired by Seoul City Hall in November of last year for violating the legal ban on civil servants engaging in collective actions by taking part in a rally to “condemn government repression of government employee unions” in July of the same year.

MOPAS regards the KGEU as an illegal group and is not allowing any activities to take place under that name. Lee Song-ok, head of MOPAS’s Civil servant Association Policy Division, said MOPAS plans to block KGEU branches from establishing offices and said union offices currently using the KGEU name must take down their signs. It also banned government employees from hanging banners or posters with the KGEU name, distributing so-called “propaganda materials” using the KGEU name, or holding picket demonstrations using the KGEU name. If the union homepage is run under the KGEU name, it will be blocked at offices. If a government employee does violate one of these regulations, MOPAS has decided it will levy up to 5 million Won ($4,384) in fines in accordance with the Labor Union and Labor Relations Mediation Law. By banning all activities under the KGEU name, the ministry has virtually rendered the union unable to function.

In response, KGEU spokesman Yun Jin-won said the Lee Myung-bak government’s attempt to kill the government employees union has reached an extreme level. Yun said a launching ceremony is a right of the union, and to regard this as illegal and severely punish participants is unjust. In response to MOPAS’s decision to designate KGEU as illegal, Yun said KGEU is not illegal, but rather a union currently preparing to be founded. He said the union filed a suit on March 9 in an administrative court to overturn the Labor Ministry’s atypical decision to return KGEU’s foundation notification documents, and until the court issues a decision, the union is legal.

The notification system was created as part of a system to recognize that workers were forming unions as part of their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. No one is required to obtain permission from the government to exercise his or her Constitutional rights, and prior to the Lee administration, notifications of new unions have been accepted, as long as there have been no serious problems.

Meanwhile, the Labor Ministry, which twice returned the KGEU’s foundation notices in December of last year even though the notices are not supposed to undergo fierce scrutiny, returned its foundation notification documents a third time on Wedensday, saying KGEU could be disqualified because previously fired employees and duty managers are eligible to sign up and participate.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]