Korea Hospital Workers To Strike 


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

 May 14, 1999 by labornews@igc.org

     Korea Herald
     05-12-99 : Hospital unions threaten to start striking today

     By Kim Min-hee Staff reporter

     The Korea Health and Medical Workers' Union (KHMWU) renewed its threat
     yesterday to stage a series of walkouts starting today to protest
     proposed restructuring in the hospital sector. In a news conference
     held at Myongdong Cathedral, a spokesman of the KHMWU said the strike
     will kick off today with the unions of the Korea Veterans' Center and
     Korea Cancer Center.

     From tomorrow through May 20, 32 other hospital unions, including those
     of the Seoul National University Hospital, Kyunghee University Medical
     Center and Ewha Womans' University medical centers, will join in the
     action, he added. KHMWU, affiliated with the progressive Korean
     Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), covers 140 public and private
     hospitals and claims a membership of 35,000.

     The KHMWU claimed that 404 medical accidents occurred at 28 hospitals
     last year due to a reduction of hospital workers. "Hospital managers
     should secure the rights and safety of patients by increasing the
     number of regular workers while suspending excessive investment in
     expensive medical equipment," the spokesman said.

     The hospital unions' strike would mark the beginning of a second spring
     labor offensive forewarned by the KCTU earlier. The militant Korean
     Metal Workers' Federation (KMWF), another subsidiary of the KCTU, has
     also warned to go on strike beginning today. Meanwhile, the government
     said that it will crack down on the labor leaders of the Seoul National
     University Hospital if they go ahead with their plan to strike on
     Thursday.

     Labor Minister Lee Ki-ho, reporting to President Kim Dae-jung on the
     current labor-management relations yesterday, said, "The government
     will deal harshly with an illegal strike according to law and
     principle, though we will try to induce the management to engage
     aggressively in talks with the union to deter a walkout." Lee added
     replacement workers will be mobilized in the event of a walkout.
 
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