On
29 April, the same day that President Park Geun-hye made a public apology for the
Sewol tragedy, the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced details of
its plan for the ‘normalisation of public institutions’, which calls for the
sale of public institution’s assets to private capital and cuts to workers’
benefits and rights.
Deregulation,
privatisation and corrupt government appointments are being pointed to as the
causes of the Sewol accident. Yet, at this time when the government should be
focusing all its efforts on the search for missing Sewol passengers and
national recovery from the tragedy, Ministry of Strategy and Finance officials
- the Mofia (Ministry + mafia) - are focused only and their false
‘normalisation of public institutions’ plan. The fact that the Ministry waited
until the day of the President’s apology speech to suddenly announce policy
decisions that had actually been made a week before, moreover, raises
suspicions of a deliberate attempt to deflect attention away from government
failures that led to the Sewol disaster. Public institution workers, who are
mourning the deceased and wishing fervently for the return of the missing, are
filled with despair and rage at this situation.
Korean
public institution unions have made clear that the government’s false public
institution normalization plan uses the pretext of reducing public sector debt
as an excuse to vilify public sector unions and restrict their rights. The
recent announcement made by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance demonstrates
the validity of our claims. Real ‘normalisation’ would require strengthening of
safety regulations, efforts to stop corrupt appointments and measures to
prevent privatization. The Ministry’s announcement mentioned none of these
things, however. Rather it brought to light efforts by Ministry officials (the
Mofia) to increase their control over public institutions and put themselves
above the law itself.
In South Korea, the right to collective
bargaining and the conclusion of collective bargaining agreements is protected
in the Constitution and labour relations law. Nonetheless, the Ministry has
announced its plans to deny this constitutional right through a simple
administrative directive, which calls on public institutions to unilaterally
revise collective bargaining agreements even if they are still in effect. The Ministry
has also announced plans to force a freeze on public institution wages, despite
the fact the wages should be a subject of collective bargaining. These
directives clearly represent illegal interference in public sector labour
relations.
Real normalization of public institutions must start with
an end to the Mofia’s efforts to increase their own power and deny legally
protected rights.
The title Mofia is
suggestive of the Ministry’s character. The fact that this Mofia is seeking to expand
its power and circumvent the law even when social criticism of the corruption
of government officials is growing is all the more outrageous. The Park
Geun-hye administration must start with true reform of the government before it
thinks about ‘normalising’ public institutions. Public institution workers
pledge to join Korean citizens in their protest against the government’s
irresponsibility.
Source:
http://www.kptu.net/mboard.asp?Action=view&strBoardID=KPTU_PDSENG&intPage=1&intCategory=0&strSearchCategory=|s_name|s_subject|&strSearchWord=&intSeq=13244
