Solidarity greetings from Korea.

Restructuring and privatization of government organizations are prevailing around the world in the era of world economic crisis. Korea is not an exception; the recent Korean government employees’ struggle is an example.

Lee Myung-Bak government is repressing the government employees. The government employees have right to listen and be sensitive to people’s voice. However, the government is coercing its employees to conform to their degenerative policies that disregard workers’ right such as belows.

1. Government employees have established Korean Government Employees’ Union(KGEU) in this September through merging three civil workers unions in order to fight against the government and to realize genuine roles of civil workers. Furthermore, KGEU decided to join Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU). However, Lee government brought every vicious mean to incapacitate KGEU by interfering with the electoral procedures to decide to join KCTU, defining KGEU unlawful, and entirely stopping KGEU members’ union activities including wearing the union vest.

2. The ruling party(Grand National Party) together with conservative right wings have proposed detrimental revision of regulations on civil workers’ obligations bringing up the issues about political neutrality of civil workers and joining KCTU. This revision is to ban civil workers from any political activities including joining KCTU, and to enforce penalties for violation, which is all denying three basic labor rights.

3. Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security has completely lost its common sense. It has even banned KGEU from performing ’Poeple’s Ceremony’(a commemorative ceremony that is performed at the beginning of every assembly to remember people who died during protests). It also closed union’s office, and fired chairman of KGEU.

Korean civil workers, who are at the front-line of government policy implementation and administration, are fighting against Korean government in a situation where democracy and the three basic labor rights guaranteed in the Constitution is rapidly degrading under Lee Myung-bak.

We make an appeal to all the comrades in the world to support Korean civil workers’ struggle to secure the basic labor rights, to win freedom of political expression and assembly, and criticize and reform the government in behalf of Korean people. Your solidarity message will mean a lot to Korean civil workers and greatly encourage their struggle.

Stop crackdown on Korean Government Employees’ Union!

We denounce Lee government on its repression against workers!

Yours in solidarity,

Joint committee against crackdown of KTU & KGEU

※ Protest letters should be sent to the address below:

Lee Myung-Bak
President of the Republic of Korea
Chengwadae: 1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongno-gu
Seoul, 110-820
KOREA
E-mail: foreign president.go.kr
Fax: +82_2_2110_3079/+82-2-770-4735

※ Please make sure that the protest letter be copied to
antimb10 gmail.com
(Lee, Yu-mi) for our reference.