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Members of the Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union have their heads shaved outside of the Central Government Complex in Seoul

The Ministry of Education demanded that metropolitan and provincial offices of education revoking permissions for full-time union activities by schoolteacher members of the Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union (KTU), and take disciplinary action against them by Apr. 28.

The ministry also plans to consider criminal complaints against education superintendents who continue refusing to comply, including charges of dereliction of duty.

The KTU said it would “hold the ministry accountable for its abuse of power in infringing on the authority assigned to metropolitan and provincial education superintendents and trampling on labor union rights with its ex officio revocation of full-time unionist [permissions].”

The ministry announced on Apr. 10 that it had “sent a notice to the various metropolitan and provincial offices of education demanding that they carry out disciplinary action by Apr. 28 against KTU teachers who have not been going to work at schools because of their union activities, and submit their results.”

The ministry stressed that it could not permit full-time union activities because the KTU does not constitute a labor union as specified in Article 5 of the Act on the Establishment and Operation of Teachers’ Unions. It also said it “plans to consider making criminal complaints against superintendents of offices of education that continue refusing to carry out disciplinary action in connection with the KTU’s violations of its service obligations.”

“These offices of education must stop infringing on the right to learn and causing chaos in educational settings with their arbitrary enforcement of the law,” it said. The ministry previously demanded that the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) and other metropolitan and provincial offices of education revoke permissions for full-time union activities by KTU teachers, but some refused.

The offices of education remained on the fence about the measure.

“Now that the procedures for revoking authority have begun, there’s about a two-week period left for related administrative procedures. We plan to conclude submission of opinions from the parties involved and other procedures before deciding our position,” the SMOE said.

The South Gyeongsang Province Office of Education said its decision would “take into account equity with other metropolitan and provincial offices of education.”

The KTU plans to lodge a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors‘ Office on Apr. 11 charging four ministry officials with abuse of power, including Minister of Education Lee Joon-sik. Currently, a total of 16 KTU-affiliated schoolteachers are not reporting to work at schools for reasons of full-time union activity.

By Jung Eun-joo and Kim Mee-hyang, staff reporters

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