Next Week, Disciplinary Action on Public Workers` Labor Union

Local Autonomous entities have decided to take disciplinary action on 591 public workers who participated in the walkout organized by the national labor union of public workers. Against this backdrop, conflicts are expected between local governments and the union.

According to the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, Nov. 21, most of the government offices except a few including the Dong-gu government office in Ulsan would decide on the punishment of the workers for their participation in the walkout by holding a meeting of the personnel committee on their own.

So, metropolis government offices, which have decision power on dismissal and suspension of workers, are requesting smaller administration district offices such as city, gun and gu to submit applications for punishment until this weekend. Those small government offices, which have rights to light punishments such as reprimand and pay cut, decided to hold the personnel committee meeting at the same date, if possible, as the metropolis government offices to reduce the protest from the union and the workers who are subject to the punishment.

The south Gyeongsang province office plans to decide punishments for those related to the strike after it finishes the punishment for its two workers who stormed into the office of the government administration and home affairs minister for protest. The office has the largest number of public workers subject to punishment.

Jang In-tae, vice governor of the south Gyeongsang province office, said, "We do not changed our policy that those who participated in the strike will be subject to disciplinary action, so those who have complaints for the punishment should respond following legal process."

Gangweon province and north Chungcheong province are scheduled to hold meetings for personnel matters as soon as they got applications for discipline from city or gun government offices.

As for the response, the national labor union of public workers plans to block the personnel meetings and hold hunger strikes to demand that government offices cancel their disciplinary action.

The south Gyeongsang province branch of the union is expected to ask for the withdrawal of the punishment in a meeting of city governors and county headmen in this province slated for Nov. 22 and submit applications to each government offices, in which it demanded that punishment should be applied to all participants in the strike, which reaches some 10,000 public workers.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs ordered each local autonomous entity to dismiss 22 core members and take lighter disciplinary action on 35 trade union members and other 534 participants, who came to Seoul to take participation in the national public workers` labor rally Nov. 4-5 but were hauled off by the police.