Korea's two union federations rally in Seoul against public institution mergers

South Korea's two umbrella labour groups, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), began what they call an all-out struggle against the government's policy of merging public institutions and relocating them to the regions. Their joint committee of public-sector unions held a rally near Dongsipjagak in Jongno-gu, central Seoul, on the afternoon of 9 October. Newsis reported the rally started at 2 pm and that organisers estimated about 6,000 participants, while police unofficially put the figure at about 5,000. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Members of FKTU's public-sector federation, financial union and public federation, and of KCTU's public transport union and health and medical union, took part, Yonhap and Asia Economy reported. According to Newsis, the full title of the event described it as a rally rejecting unilateral consolidation and separation and hasty regional relocation, and calling for a remuneration committee. Participants chanted slogans including 'public workers reject unilateral and hasty public policy' and 'expand public jobs to address the staff shortage you ignore'. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

FKTU chairman Kim Dong-myung (김동명) said the policy the government is pursuing under the name of 'public institution function reform' is not simply a matter of reorganisation. He said it would shrink the institutions' core functions, weaken public services, damage public value and leave workers facing serious job insecurity. KCTU chairman Yang Kyung-soo (양경수) said that if relocation were really effective, the government should first examine whether institutions already moved to the regions had helped prevent regional decline, and that if efficiency was the goal, the proper order was to ask workers how to strengthen public service. [ 1 , 3 ]

Newsis reported that the government announced on 3 September a plan to reform public institutions' functions that would consolidate 186 institutions into 77, cutting 109. The joint committee said reform was needed but that the right direction was strengthening functions rather than cutting institutions, and that forced mergers to reduce their number would only worsen the quality of public services. On relocation, it said hasty moves did not help balanced national development, citing the experience of the first round of relocations and innovation cities it said had become ghost towns, and demanded that the government stop selecting institutions to fill quotas and set reasonable criteria and transparent procedures. [ 2 ]

Cho Hyung-gyu (조형규), chairman of the union at Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), asked where the evidence was that splitting LH in two would speed up housing supply, and said that if the government wanted to divide the corporation 17 years after the 2009 merger of the land and housing corporations it must clearly explain the reasons and effects to the public, Newsis reported. [ 2 ]

The committee plans to hold a tent sit-in in front of the National Assembly on weekdays from 11:00 to 18:00 starting 12 October, with publicity campaigns at lunch and dinner time, and said it would continue until the government changed its stance and made real improvements. Asia Economy reported the government has said it will announce the institutions and regions targeted for relocation in the fourth quarter of this year. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]