Teachers’ union facing more mass layoffs as Ministry orders its staff to return to schools

Posted on : 2016-02-19 15:23 KST Modified on : 2016-02-19 15:23 KST
After KTU had its official status revoked, 39 of 83 full-time employees are refusing government’s order to return to their posts
Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union members don headbands before a press conference held in front of its headquarters in the Seodaemun District of Seoul on Feb. 18. (by Tak Ki-hyoung
Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union members don headbands before a press conference held in front of its headquarters in the Seodaemun District of Seoul on Feb. 18. (by Tak Ki-hyoung

Seventeen years after the Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) was recognized as a legal union, its members are once again in danger of a mass layoff. After an appeals court ruled that the KTU was not a legal union, South Korea’s Education Ministry has asked 83 full-time employees at the union to return to school, but 39 of them are refusing to do so.

On Feb. 18, the police carried out a surprise raid of the KTU’s computer servers in response to eight KTU activities about which conservative groups filed complaints last year, leading to predictions that intense suppression is in store for the KTU.

“So that we can engage in coordinated activities in the classroom amid the difficulty of having lost our legal status, some of our staff will return to school, but the rest will continue to fulfill their duties as full-time union workers in our main office and in our chapter offices in various cities and provinces,” the KTU said during a press conference held in front of its headquarters in the Seodaemun District of Seoul on Feb. 18.

While the leave of absence for the KTU’s full-time workers will come to an end on Feb. 29, KTU President Byeon Seong-ho and 38 other workers are planning to ask the Education Ministry and the offices of education they belong to on Mar. 1 to extend their leave. The other 44 full-time teachers are planning to return to the schools that employ them on the same day.

This is the KTU’s official response to a request made by the Education Ministry on Jan. 22 to the 17 city and provincial offices of education to order the 83 full-time KTU workers to return to school.

“A labor union needs full-time workers. We will not be shaken in any way, even if this reckless government dismisses all of us and we are forced to leave the podium,” the KTU said.

“The government may have stripped us of our legal status, but as long as the union effectively meets the constitutional requirements for being a union and is continuing to work cooperatively, it is difficult to see what reason there might be for refusing to allow these teachers to be full-time union workers,” the union said, contending that it was inappropriate for the Ministry to ask the full-time workers to return to the classroom.

“If any city or provincial superintendents of schools grant the teachers‘ request to extend their leave, the Ministry will consider filing a complaint against them for insubordination and dereliction of their duties. If the full-time union workers refuse their superintendent’s orders to return to school, they will be dismissed,” the Education Ministry said.

So far, the KTU says, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and 12 other education offices have already ordered their full-time union workers to return to school or are planning to give those orders soon, while the other four offices are currently reviewing this course of action. The likely consequence is that 39 full-time workers will be dismissed from their positions for being absent without leave.

Following the appeal court‘s decision to strip the union of its legal status, the Education Ministry asked the city and provincial offices of education to evict the union chapters from their offices, to appropriate their subsidies, to suspend collective bargaining, to abolish collective agreements and to dismiss KTU board members from various committees.

Noting that the Supreme Court’s decision was still pending, the KTU asked the Ministry to immediately retract all measures that could inflict irreversible harm on the union.

“All of the Ministry‘s measures fall under the prerogative of the superintendents of schools. As such, we urge the superintendents to make an appropriate decision in line with the principle of autonomous local education and the spirit of the constitution,” the KTU said.

On Thursday morning, officers from the Jongno Police Department raided a company in the Seocho neighborhood of Seoul that manages the KTU’s servers along with the residence of KTU’s organizational bureau chief.

The police explained that they initiated the raid to acquire evidence in connection with charges that the KTU violated the Government Officials Act on eight occasions between April and December of last year. One such instance was when a group of KTU teachers allegedly posted the message “The Sewol ferry should be raised immediately” on Apr. 10, 2015.

But the KTU questioned the police’s decision. “We had announced the press conference for our full-time staff several days ago, while the raid was announced immediately before the press conference. This was a calculated raid that was meant as retaliation for the press conference,” the union said.

By Jeon Jeong-yun and Bang Jun-ho, staff reporters

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

 

button that move to original korean article (클릭시 원문으로 이동하는 버튼)

Related stories

Most viewed articles