(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Sept. 12)

Rooting out civil corruption

There are around 100 civil servants nationwide working full time for a labor
union and getting a salary, according to the ???Civil Servants Group Illegal
Activities Solution Performance Report??? presented to Assemblyman Shin Ji-ho of
the Grand National Party by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security a
few days ago.

It is clearly illegal because the civil servants??? labor union law
does not recognize paid, full-time labor union workers.
This is a serious problem because civil servants should be role models and abide
by the law, but instead some are openly violating the law in the name of the
labor movement. It not only shakes up the order of public positions, but also has
a negative effect on labor and management relations in public companies. The
government plans to abolish the paid, full-time labor union employee system of
civil companies next year, but there appears to be a lack of justification.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security should reveal all illegal
full-time workers, make them return to their original positions and strictly
apply the civil servants??? regulation on leave from their place of work.
Needless to say, they should take back all the wages paid to these people during
their periods of leave, too.
Organization directors are also largely responsible for the illegal actions of
labor unions in municipal organizations. Many point out that illegal actions
continue because municipal organization directors turn a blind eye to actions
that should be controlled. The recent Ministry of Public Administration and
Security report shows that only two municipal organizations reported illegal
full-time labor union workers. The reason why they are approving these illegal
actions is obvious: They are conspiring to a certain extent because directors are
afraid of how civil servants will vote at the next election, and are concerned
that something bad may be exposed through labor union retaliation.
So it will be difficult to exterminate illegal labor union activities if
municipal organization directors are not stricter. The ministry should not stop
at administrative guidance but should severely punish administrations of
municipal organizations where illegal labor unions operate. This is the only way
to cut corruption between labor unions and municipal organization directors.
Now is the time to correct the agreements between civil servant labor unions and
organization directors that have problems. The Ministry of Public Administration
and Security presented research results on illegal full-time labor union employee
operations this time, but the illegal labor union activities of civil workers
does not stop there.
Other survey results show that 79.5 percent of central and local civil servant
labor union organization agreements are illegal or legal shortcuts. If necessary,
the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea should carry out a special
investigation and thoroughly pull out any roots of illegal labor union activities
or those that use legal shortcuts in the civil servant society.
(END)