BWI Submits Further Information to the ILO CFA on behalf of KFCITU

On behalf BWI’s affiliate in South Korea, the Korean Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions (KFCITU), BWI submitted additional information to the ILO Complaint Case Number 2620 to address the repression faced by Remicon (ready-mixed cement) and Dump Truck Drivers workers. The additional information, which is a joint initiative between BWI and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), was handed directly to Kari Tapiola, ILO Executive Director for Standards and Principles. The ILO Complaint Case Number 2620 specifically focused on violations of ILO Conventions 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948) and 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949) against precarious workers, specifically “illegal dispatch” worker.

Last year the ILO Governing Body approved the recommendations made the Committee of Freedom of Association (CFA) in relation to this complaint but the South Korean government has yet to recognize or implement these recommendations. Instead, the government under the current Lee Myung Bak administration has launched a systematic and strategic campaign to undermine the rights of precarious workers, this time targeting Remcion and Dump Truck drivers who are considered as “self-employed”workers.

According to the South Korean government, under the Trade Union Labour Relations Adjustment Act (TULRAA), these workers are not considered as workers due to their “self-employed” status. Thus, the government has unilaterally determined that these workers are ineligible for trade union membership. Starting from January of this year, the government issued several official orders to the union seeking “voluntary expulsion” of all Remicon and Dump truck driver or face revocation of their trade union certification. The government has threatened to take forcible action and even declare the two unions illegal should they fail to follow the conditions of the order. The government’s anti-union actions are the result of petition filed by the several construction and transportation employers and associations to the Ministry of Labour last October.

The recent actions by the South Korean government and the construction employers contradict the industrial relations that had been developed as the result of government recognition of unions organized and established by Remicon and Dump Truck drivers. In 2000, Remicon truck drivers formed the Korean Construction Transport Workers Union (KCTWU). The union was granted union certification by the Ministry of Labour that same year. More importantly, the union has negotiated several collective bargaining agreements with construction for close to ten years. In certain cases, these agreements were the result of negotiations mediated by local Ministry of Labour officials. Despite a history of trade negotiations and collective bargaining agreements between the union and their respective employers the actions by the Lee Myung Bak administration is an attempt to destroy labor relationships which has been fostered over the years.

BWI hopes that with the submission of this new information related to the repression against Remicon and Dump Truck Drivers to the ILO would encourage the South Korean government to not only stop the repression against Remicon and Dump Truck drivers but more importantly implement the original recommendations made by the CFA in relation to precarious workers that also include “self-employed” workers.