[New Year's Address] Health and Medical Workers' Union "Struggle to Implement Government-Labor Agreement and Resolve Staffing Issues"

Nasunja, Chairperson of the National Health and Medical Industry Labor Union (Photo by the Health and Medical Labor Union)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Na Sunja, Chairperson of the National Health and Medical Industry Labor Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, emphasized in her New Year's address on the 2nd that 2023 should become a historic turning point by fully implementing the September 2 labor-government agreement to fundamentally resolve the staffing issues in the healthcare field.

Chairperson Na stated, "We were praised as COVID-19 heroes, but even before the pandemic ended, we have been discarded like used tools," and criticized, "Despite confirming how severely lacking public healthcare and medical personnel are, the government is pushing forward with medical privatization policies and even plans to reduce health insurance coverage."

Regarding this, she appealed, "In the new year of 2023, let us unite the 80,000 union members based on past achievements and prepare for two major struggles."

First, she stressed, "Through the full implementation of the September 2 labor-government agreement, we must resolve the staffing issues on the ground and expand public healthcare." On September 2, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Health and Medical Workers' Union adopted the labor-government agreement which included ▲ establishing staffing standards for COVID-19 treatment hospitals and institutionalizing life safety allowances ▲ expanding public hospitals in 70 regional medical service areas nationwide ▲ legislating nurse-to-patient ratios ▲ expanding support systems for education-dedicated nurses ▲ and increasing support for night nursing fees.

On September 2, 2021, Na Sun-ja, Chairperson of the Health and Medical Workers' Union (left), and Kwon Deok-cheol, Minister of Health and Welfare, greet each other by bumping fists before signing the agreement following the successful labor-management negotiations. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairperson Na emphasized, "The core of this is resolving the staffing problem," and insisted, "Expanding public healthcare is impossible without securing personnel." She stated that standards for the number of patients per nurse and appropriate staffing levels for all occupations should be established, and that plans to increase medical school admissions should be developed through social discussions. She also proposed the necessity of active public healthcare expansion policies, including compensation for losses at COVID-19 dedicated hospitals, covering deficits of public hospitals, and expanding public healthcare in the 70 regional medical service areas.

She also presented a roadmap for completing the industrial union and efforts to strengthen and expand the organization. The Health and Medical Workers' Union plans to fight for labor basic rights for all healthcare workers, including those in small hospitals and clinics without unions and under poor working conditions, and will also launch a petition campaign with 50,000 signatures to institutionalize industrial collective bargaining.