Three government employee unions agree to merge

(ATTN: CHANGES schedule in 5th para)
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's three government employee unions agreed
to a merger on Wednesday in a bid to secure stronger negotiating power in talks
with the government, union officials said.
The merger of the three -- the 55,000-member Korean Government Employees' Union
(KGEU), the 65,000-member Korean Democracy Government Employees' Union (KDGE) and
the 8,500-member Court Government Employees' Union -- will create an integrated
government employees union claiming 128,000 members, said the officials.
The KDGE withdrew from the KGEU in June 2007, vowing to seek a more moderate line
on labor issues.
"Unions of government employees took the first step towards achieving integration
and unity after overcoming internal conflicts," said the unions in a joint
statement. "We are aiming to root out corruption and irregularities and push
through governmental reforms and establish democracy."
The merger process is expected to be completed by the end of the year, after all
union members cast votes in September on whether to accept the merger plan, and
their representatives meet in November to elect members of the new leadership,
said the statement.
The consolidated union will be newly named in December, it added.
Heads of the three unions met on May 20 to finalize their merger agreement, five
months after a task force group was started to discuss the plan.
The consolidated union will go under the umbrella of the nations' biggest union
organization, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which claims over 650,000
unionized workers.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)