ILO, ‘urgent intervention’ in the strike of the cargo unions… Presented the ‘principle of freedom of association’ to the government

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has begun an emergency intervention in relation to the Korean government’s response to the strike by the Cargo Solidarity Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Previously, on the 28th of last month, the KCTU, the Public Transport Workers’ Union, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) sent a letter to the ILO requesting “urgent intervention” in a joint name.

According to the Public Transport Workers Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on the 4th, Karen Curtis, deputy director of the International Labor Standards Office of the ILO, sent an official letter of “immediate intervention” to the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor. on the 2nd. Through this, the ILO communicated the position of the supervisory body in terms of standards and principles of freedom of association in the relevant conventions.

The ILO can comprehensively evaluate the content of the agreement, the current recommendations to the relevant government, and the seriousness of the matter, and make an emergency intervention under the authority of the secretary general, if requested by the trade unions of the member countries. This is because there is a procedure for filing a complaint through a supervisory body such as the ‘Freedom of Association Committee’, but it takes a long time.

The position that the ILO presented to the Korean government this time is based on the ‘Summary of Decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association’ published by the ILO in 2018. The summary states that “an order to return to the work be legal where a prolonged general strike could lead to a situation that could endanger the life, health or personal safety of the population,” but that “services or business operations, such as those in the transport, rail and petroleum sectors may not be assume that the suspension could lead to a state of national emergency.” Therefore, “measures taken to mobilize workers in case of a strike in this type of service are deemed to limit the right of workers to strike.”

ITF Legal Director Ruwan Subasinghe, who was responsible for drafting the ILO’s request for intervention, said, “It is important to consider that the ILO has attached the current position of the ILO when sending an official document to the government to inform the government from the start the period. urgent intervention.”

The Korean government previously ratified the ILO’s ‘Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize’ (No. 87) and the ‘Forced Labor Convention’ (No. 29), which have the same effect as the domestic laws of the last year It came into force The world of labor argues that the Korean government’s ‘order to start work’ in response to the strike by the cargo unions is in violation of Conventions No. 87 and Convention No. 29.

Governments that have ratified the ILO Conventions are required to submit reports on compliance with the provisions of the Convention at least every three years. For this reason, the ILO’s intervention itself has a meaning beyond simply conveying an opinion. An official from the Ministry of Labor said on the 4th, “There is no mandatory response (to this emergency intervention), but we intend to set the direction and answer through internal meetings with related ministries in accordance with the principle of good faith.” It may take up to 1-2 months to respond.

Following the request for urgent intervention, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is also considering filing a complaint against the Korean government with the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association. All. If the ILO accepts the KCTU’s claim in the lawsuit, it can make a recommendation to the Korean government. However, it is taking a long time for the legal proceedings to be completed and for the ILO’s recommendation to come out.

It is 9 years since the railway union stopped a strike on 29 October 2013 that the ILO intervened in labor matters in Korea. As for the cargo union, it intervened once in 2009. At the time, when the Ministry of Labor issued a corrective order to the construction union and the transport union to expel ‘cargo driver, courier driver, and other specially employed workers’, saying they could not be considered workers, the union asked for urgent intervention from the ILO. Construction unions and others later filed a complaint with the ILO, and the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association recommended that in 2011 the Korean government “take measures to ensure that all workers, including self-employed workers such as truck drivers, can enjoy complete freedom . of society.”