Solidarity Call for the February 25 People’s Strike in Korea

Solidarity Call for the February 25 People’s Strike in Korea
https://www.facebook.com/kctueng
On Feb 25, 2014, one year after the Park Government’s inauguration, workers and people in Korea go on a nation-wide strike under the slogan “After one year under Park’s Government, We cannot stand it anymore!” For the last one year, human and trade union rights have been seriously attacked and the democracy in the country has been deeply undermined. Almost all of public commitments made by President Park during her election campaign have been broken unilaterally during her first year. Ironically, this made social movements much more united. KCTU, together with broader social movements including organisaions of peasants, the urban poors, small shop keepers, students, youth, etc jointly established the “Organising Committee of Feb 25 People’s Strike” as a coordination body.

On this day, workers and citizens in every place will gather in Seoul and other major cities in each province to raise the common demand of all the people. Strikes, rally, protest actions are easily criminalized in the country, and support and solidarity from international trade union movement are needed.
We invited you to show your solidarity for workers and peoples in Korea by organizing a demonstration in front of Korean embassy in your country at any time you can, but before the Feb 25 People’s Strike and/or sending a protest letter to the Korean government. You can also send your photos with the key slogans.

Korean Government,
Stop repression on Union movements!
Respect Fundament Labour Rights!
Honour your international commitment to respect international labour standard!
Recognise KGEU and KTU!
Release all the imprisoned trade union leaders!
Stop the outrageous practice of damage claims against striking workers!
Stop public sector privatization and public pension cuts!

*****

Background of the Feb 25 People’s Strike

1. Trade Union Rights under the Park Government

- The Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), which represents 140,000 public officials and devote itself to ensure that all citizens have access to quality public services, denied its legal status. The government returned the union’s establishment report on the ground that it allows union membership of 135 dismissed workers who lost their position related to their union activities.
- With the reason, Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) was deregistered when it rejected the government’s recommendation to exclude dismissed workers from its membership. The union has been protested the governments’ competition oriented education policy and distortion of the country’s history to glamorize the military dictatorship and Japanese colonialism.
- 4 leaders of Korean Federation of Public Services and Transportation Workers (KPTU)-affiliated Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU), who led a 23-day-long strike against railway privatisaion in December are now imprisoned. Disciplinary actions (likely to include over a hundred dismissals) against KRWU members and officers who participated in the strike will be announced soon and the union's bank account has been frozen in relation to a claims for damages suit.
- As a candidate PARK Geun-Hye promised a parliamentary investigation into mass dismissals at Ssangyong Motor and the accounting fraud that justified it. But after her election, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) Ssangyong Motor Branch Chair was thrown in prison for protesting the tearing down of the workers’ protest tent remembering the 24 Ssangyong Motor dead workers and family members. Although the Seoul High Court ruled on 7 February 2014 that Ssangyong Motor’s accounts were falsified and the mass dismissals unjustified, instead the Korean government is joining up with Mahindra/Ssangyong Motor and their insurance companies to sue the workers and the KMWU for strike damages claims of 15.8 billion KRW (about 15.8 million USD).
- Global Korean firms like Samsung profess to a “no union” corporate policy, leaving workers for Samsung Electronics Service struggling to get by on piece-rate commission wages, and having to fight the world’s largest IT company for modest demands such as living wages and union recognition.
- Precarious workers of the KMWU Hyundai Motors Ulsan Irregular Workers’ Local were ordered to pay a record 9 billion KRW (9 million USD) to the Hyundai Motor Company for “damages” to compensate the company’s potential and actual losses from work stoppages asking for wage increases and calling on Hyundai Motor to accept the historic Supreme Court ruling recognizing a direct employment relationship with Hyundai Motor. The union local chair who led the strike in now in prison and over a hundred union members fired for that strike seek reinstatement.
- In total, 15 union leaders, including the above-mentioned are imprisoned in relation to their union activities. Almost of them are charged under the article 314 of the Penal Code, “Obstruction of Business”. (see the attached)
- Apart from the criminal charge, unions and/or individual union leaders/members are facing damages lawsuit in an astronomical amount. Employers try to destroy unions by removing their leaders in one hand and by bankrupting them in the other hand. Lawsuits against individual workers in an amount that no one could pay have led in some cases to suicide. Even worse, this outrageous practice is exported to the countries where Korean multinationals are operating, i.e Cambodia. (see the attached)
- The KCTU office was illegally raided by the police. On December 22, 2013, without a search warrant the police unlawfully and forcibly pushed into the union headquarters building to execute unjust arrest warrants against KRWU leaders, destroying union property in the process. Police indiscriminately arrested protestors outside, using pepper spray. In total, 138 were arrested including the General Secretary of the KCTU and other 2 central leaders, and the President of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU), the Korean Federation of Public Services and Transportation Workers’ Unions (KPTU) and …s.
- On the Contrary, employers of YPR, Valeo, Bosch, Continental, etc, where the Ministry of Employment and Labour found the employers’ union busting, has not been charged or acquitted.
- The government is using public institution debt as an excuse to attack public sector workers. Under the pretext of ‘normalizing’ public institution management, the government is attempting to unilaterally revise collective bargaining agreements and weaken public sector workers’ benefits and rights.

2. Annulment of the election pledges

As soon as President Park took office, she unilaterally canceled almost all of her election pledges on social protection & security, and labour relations, including

- Parliamentary investigation into illegitimate mass dismissals at Ssangyong Motors (Seoul High Court ruled on 7 February 2014that the mass dismissals were invalid.)
- Increase Basic Elderly Pension Benefits
- Reduction University Tuition Fees by half
- Free medical treatment for 4 major severe diseases
No privatisaion in key public services
Now the government is promoting privatization in public services including railway, healthcare, education, energy etc. and weakening the national pension and welfare system.

3. Democracy at risk
- A number of state agencies extensively and illegally intervened during this last presidential election. It was revealed that several state agencies including the National Intelligence Service(NIS), Cyber Command, Ministry of Security and Public Administration, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Unification, and Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs as well as government funded organisations such as Korea Veterans Association intentionally created negative public opinion on the Internet by posting several articles and retweeting comments that slandered opposition party candidates during the election.
- Even after the illegal intervention in the elections by the state agencies was revealed, the persecutors are not conducting a transparent and independent investigation on this case and political pressures are imposed by the current government in a way to interrupt any investigation.
- Civil society organisations of the Republic of Korea have continued to hold a series of demonstrations calling for a transparent investigation and a fact finding mission on this matter, but the Presidential Office, who is responsible for this matter, has ignored this call from the people.
- In order to turn public eyes away, the prosecution launched investigation against the KGEU and the KTU according to a false accusation by a far-right wing organization that the unions intervened in the election. In the name of investigation, the prosecution seized and searched the unions’ computer server and all the personal information of its members.
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