ICFTU condemns incarceration of trade unionists in South Korea
The ICFTU is calling for all unionists to be released by the Korean authorities in line with ILO guidelines.
Following the arrest of 241 striking hospital workers and the subsequent imprisonment of a further 7 union leaders in South Korea, on Friday 15 November, the ICFTU lodged a formal complaint against the country at the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The arrests took place on September 11th 2002 when 3000 riot police stormed three hospitals owned by the Catholic Church of Korea where striking workers were taking part in sit-ins as part of an on-going pay and conditions dispute between hospital workers led by the Korean Congress of Trade Union-affiliated Korean Health and Medical Workers� Union and their employers dating back to April 2002. The September sit-ins came after months of employer intransigence facilitated by the denial of fundamental trade union rights in Korean labour law.
Following the police raid, the management of the Catholic hospitals in question again refused all proposals by the Union to meet to resume the negotiations to end the dispute. It continued with disciplinary proceedings and the issuing of dismissal notices, and began to hire new staff to replace the striking workers. In total, 573 union members were referred to disciplinary proceedings and dismissal notices were issued to 20 key union leaders. Police summonses were issued against a total of 93 unionists.
In an accompanying letter to ILO Director General, Juan Somavia, ICFTU General Secretary pilloried the Government of the Republic of Korea for continuing 뱓o violate fundamental trade union rights in both legislation and practice, particularly through its continued imprisonment of trade union leaders.�
The 11th September arrests were hardly the first of their kind, latest figures from August this year indicated that 49 trade unions were languishing in Korean jails, including Dan Byung-Ho, President of the ICFTU-affiliated KCTU and Kim Dae-ghil, President of the Korean railworkers union (part of the ICFTU-affiliated FKTU), with a further 75 wanted by the authorities.
The ICFTU is calling for all unionists to be released by the Korean authorities in line with ILO guidelines.
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