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November 14, 2009
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| Union members of the Environment Ministry voted in favor of withdrawing from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on Wednesday, becoming the first government ministry to pull out of the umbrella union. The decision came just 50 days after Korea’s three public workers’ unions agreed to merge into a single entity, the Korean Government Workers’ Union under the KCTU. Union members voted from Tuesday and Wednesday. The union said 821 members participated and 83.3 percent were in favor of the withdrawal. Withdrawing membership requires participation of more than half of the membership and approval of two-thirds of the voters. “When three public service workers’ unions voted to consolidate into one group and join the KCTU in September, only 49 percent of our union members voted in support of the plan, slightly lower than the requirement of joining the KCTU,” said Lee Dong-chun, head of the union. “However, because our upper union, the Korean Democracy Government Employees’ Union, voted in favor of the plan, we had no other option but to join KCTU and KGWU.” Both the KGWU and KCTU are close to losing more members as other government unions attempt to withdraw. The Agriculture Ministry’s labor union workers voted whether to withdraw on Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,754 out of 2,245 members casting ballots. Only 57.8 percent voted to support withdrawal, so the measure fell short. Members of the National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service’s union also voted on ending their membership on Wednesday and Thursday. The NAQS said it will announce the results soon. Union workers at Statistics Korea, formerly called the National Statistical Office, will hold an executive meeting to decide on leaving the KCTU today. The Statistics Korea union has over 1,600 members. By Kang Chan-su, Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr] |
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