KCTU "Ministry of Labor Demands Copies Without Basis"
Yoon to Receive Reports from Related Agencies This Week
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has condemned the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's pressure regarding securing accounting transparency and cracking down on illegal activities by the Construction Workers' Union. They claim that the government is already treating the union itself as illegal and applying pressure. The government is escalating pressure by granting the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport authority to crack down on illegal activities at construction sites.
On the 20th, the KCTU held a press conference titled "Condemning the Yoon Suk-yeol Government's Unjust Interference in Union Activities and Union Suppression" at the KCTU education center in Jung-gu, Seoul.
At the event, the KCTU argued that the government is hostile toward unions without any substantial grounds. Yoon Taek-geun, the KCTU Senior Vice Chairman, said, "Last year, President Yoon referred to union corruption as one of the three great evils, which revealed his attitude," adding, "We are appalled by the government's hostile stance, treating the labor movement as an obstacle."
They emphasized that the government's measures to secure accounting transparency in unions constitute unjust interference. Since the KCTU operates using union members' dues, the government has no right to scrutinize them. The KCTU stated, "The Ministry of Employment and Labor demanded submission of copies of documents without legal basis under the Labor Union Act," and added, "According to internal inspections, general meetings, elections, and accounting are conducted based on democratic union operation principles."
The government claims that it requested document submissions to ensure accounting transparency, but the KCTU has not cooperated. As of the 16th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor received accounting documents from only 120 out of 327 unions. According to the office of Kwon Seong-dong, a member of the People Power Party, the KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) received approximately 152.1 billion KRW in subsidies from central and local governments from 2018 to last year. The KCTU rebutted, stating that they only receive about 3 billion KRW in support, such as deposits for office leases, in accordance with the law.
They also argued that the pressure regarding illegal activities by the Construction Workers' Union is unjust. Since Police Commissioner Yoon Hee-geun pledged to eradicate illegal activities at construction sites as the third public promise in December last year, investigations have been conducted nationwide. On the 16th, the Gyeongnam Police Agency arrested 10 union officials who extorted 200 million KRW, and on the 28th of last month, the Northern Gyeonggi Police Agency detained two KCTU Construction Workers' Union officials who forced union member recruitment. The government plans to deploy judicial police officers to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to crack down on illegal activities at construction sites.
The KCTU stated, "The government is prejudging sectoral union bylaws as illegal and revealing its intention to suppress sectoral unions through orders to correct bylaws," adding, "They are arbitrarily interpreting the Labor Union Act to label the KCTU and its affiliated unions as illegal." Kang Han-su, Senior Vice Chairman of the Construction Workers' Union, said, "The government is accepting only the unilateral claims of construction companies pretending to be victims and is constructing charges such as intimidation and coercion."
Meanwhile, the government is expected to intensify pressure on the labor movement. President Yoon is scheduled to receive reports this week from related agencies on measures to eradicate illegal activities by the Construction Workers' Union. The meeting will be attended by Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor; Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Justice; and Yoon Hee-geun, Commissioner of the National Police Agency.
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