National Human Rights Commission Employees Launches “Preliminary Labor Union”

Workers at the National Human Rights Commission elected a chair of a preliminary labor union on April 26 and prepared themselves for the activity of their preliminary labor union, a precursor of the collective bargaining body.

“Eighty-three out of about 91 eligible voters of the union cast ballots and elected Roh Jeong-hwan, a 34-year-old public relations employee, as the chair with 76 ballots,” said the commission on April 27.

About 148 employees of the commission’s 180 officials who are below Public Servant Level 5, formed a preparatory committee for the union in March of last year. About 92 eventually obtained membership of the union.

Unlike the civil servants association, the preliminary labor union does not have legal rights. It is a preliminary committee for the launching of a trade union. The preliminary union represented an alternative to the government employees’ trade unions which is currently outlawed but which may be allowed in the near future under a revised law.

The primary goal of the commission’s preliminary union is to offer a window of dialogue for members. The workforce at the commission is a mixed crew of contract, functional, regular, and non-regular employees recruited from a variety of civilian and government entities. This complicates communication within the organization.

“Once communication flows well, union activity will be in full swing,” said Chairman Roh. “It is possible for us to work in solidarity with the National Civil Servants Union and other civil servants’ groups on a case-by-case basis.

Yang-Hwan Jung ray@donga.com