Strike by the 12 Hospitals Including the SNU Hospital

Twelve hospitals, including the Seoul National University Hospital, under the health- medical union (president Cha Soo-Ryun), announced that they will join the strike, starting Wednesday, following the nation-wide strike by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) yesterday. Therefore, the public inconvenience has doubled.

The health-medical union said yesterday that ``21,195 members from the fifty umbrella organizations completed the application for the adjustment of the labor dispute. 77.1 percent of the union members agreed on strike.``

The Seoul National University Hospital (including Borame Hospital), the Kyung Hee Medical Center, Ewha Women’s University Hospital (Mok Dong, Dongdaemoon), Kangnam Sungmo Hospital, and Yeuyido Sungmo Hospital in Seoul and other hospitals, such as Chungbook University Hospital, Chunbook University Hospital, Chunnam University Hospital, Kyungbook University, Yuijungboo Sungmoo Hospital, Dongkuk University Hospital (Kyungjoo, Pohang), and Donga University Hospital will be among the first to walk out. 4 hospitals, including Hanyang University Hospital, plan to walk out on 14th. 3 hospitals, including Bohun Hospital, will walk out on 16th, and 27 other hospitals will join the strike on 20th.

However, it is possible that the negotiation can be made as each hospital union continues to negotiate. For instance, the Seoul National University Hospital continues to negotiate by participating in the mediation meeting of the Seoul district labor committee.

Once the hospital unions launch strike, failures in the nursing and administration is anticipated since the health-medical union consists of nurses and other employees. The health-medical union is demanding the following: to withdraw the restructuring, to regularize the part-time job, to secure the number of the human resources, to have fair personnel administration, to make clear the hospital management, and to reduce the working time. The National University Hospital is demanding the continuation of the progressive tax of the retirement fund and other unions are demanding 11-13 percent of wage increase. 15,142 members from the 68 organizations (totaled by Ministry of Labor. 50,228 members from the 126 organizations according to the KCTU) participated in the nationwide strike of the KCTU yesterday. Most of the business establishments, which participated in strike, are mid- and small- size businesses with exception to few.

Kim Joon-Seok kjs359@donga.com