[Press Conference] Emergency Statement by KHMU
President Na Soon-ja Two Days before Strike Two Days before General Strike! I Once Again Urge the
Government and Ruling Party to Make the Decision! Over the past three months since starting on May 31, negotiations between
the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union and the Ministry of Health and Welfare
have been held 12 times. The 12th round of negotiation on August 30, three days before
the scheduled strike, continued for a long time of 14 hours from 3 p.m. to 5
a.m. the next day. I would like to express my deepest apologies to the public for the fact
that, despite the recent two consecutive marathon negotiations, we have
unfortunately been unable to reach a final agreement. Regrettably, today's statement by the Minister of Health and Welfare is
only repeating their position that it is difficult to come to an agreement
right now, as the ministry has talked about several times. I would like to ask what additional discussions they have made with other
stakeholders besides us, rather than repeating the phrase, "Let's discuss
the tasks for a long term since they need to be implemented for a long run”
during the past three months of negotiations. The ministry also needs to answer what kind of support and measures this
government has been striving to provide to nurses and other healthcare workers
who are desperately fighting coronavirus in the field right now. Although the negotiations have continued for a long time of three months,
now we have to look back and ask whether we have wasted the precious time
without any result due to the neglect of the Ministry of Economy and Finance
and other financial authorities and the reluctance of the Ministry of Health
and Welfare. We have tried as much as possible to narrow differences in opinions on the
eight key issues through two rounds of marathon negotiations, which was our
sincerity to reach an agreement without a strike. However, the remaining five key issues that have not been agreed upon up
to this moment should be addressed, as we have been emphasizing over and over
again, in order for the union not to go on strike. 1. This is the most
urgent claim of staff at COVID-19 hospitals. It is necessary to prepare
standards for medical personnel who care for COVID-19 patients. This is a very
just demand so that many people and the media question why no such standards
have been prepared yet for the past 20 months. The budget for them must be
secured urgently while institutionalizing the life safety allowance to be paid
to nurses and other healthcare staff working at COVID-19 hospitals. 2. It needs to expand
public healthcare. As the government itself stated, specific plans for
addressing the lack of public hospitals should be prepared and presented to
establish a regionally complete medical system for each of the 70 mid-size care
areas. More government subsidies should be provided to at least those 70
mid-size care areas without preliminary feasibility studies. This is a very
reasonable demand that contains aspirations for the national and regional
expansion of public hospitals. If it is so difficult for the Ministry of Health
and Welfare to make a decision to resolve this issue while reading the mind of
the Ministry of Economy and Finance and making excuses of local governments,
then the president and prime minister must now take action. 3. No more delay
should be allowed in improving the treatment of nurses COVID-19 heroes. It is
not true that the current situation has been created only by the prolonged
pandemic, and before that, there were no problems with their treatment at all.
Discontent about the ill treatment of nurses, which has accumulated for more
than several decades, is now bursting out as it was no longer possible to
contain it due to the prolonged pandemic. In order to improve the working
conditions of nurses, which were notorious even before the pandemic, and the
quality of nursing services, it is necessary to drastically lower the number of
patients a nurse has to take care of by stipulating the ratio of nurses to
patients in law, as seen in the U.S.’s one to five, or Japan’s one to seven,
and change the worst night shift work at hospitals to regular and predictable
shifts. 4. The training-only
nurse system, which has greatly helped reduce the turnover rate of new nurses
over the past three years, should be fully expanded. The Ministry of Health and
Welfare itself said that the system received favorable evaluations. However, it
is repeatedly arguing that careful consideration is necessary to expand the system
because it requires massive manpower movement, and it is difficult to implement
the system because the opposition of the financial authorities makes it
difficult to secure financial resources due to. 5. Since night
nursing fees, which are directly related to improving the treatment of nurses,
are differentiated by region and hospital size, the proposal to unify the fee
rate nationwide to enhance equity is a perfectly normal and reasonable claim.
However, no progress has yet to be made because they have repeated arguing that
it is difficult to discuss. I once again appeal to the public to understand our desperation that we
have no choice but to continue the negotiations until this moment today while
leaving the strike as our last resort. We will do our best to reach an agreement before the strike begins. Once again, I urge the government and the ruling party to make a decision
to reach an agreement on key issues. The Minister of Health and Welfare should be the first who make the
decision. If it lies beyond his authority, the Minister of Economy and Finance
himself must step up to the plate. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, the commander of the COVID-19 prevention and
control, must directly step in to ensure a pan-government function can be
performed. I also ask the representatives of the ruling and opposition parties to
play an active role in the budget compilation and legislation as you said at
meetings with us that you fully agreed with our demands. During the disastrous pandemic, if the government and the union fail to
come to an agreement on and secure a driving force for a policy that is
overwhelmingly supported by all public, the result will not be simply a
“medical crisis” for a few days, but the “exodus” of 230,000 clinical nurses and
the collapse of the medical care system. If it becomes a reality, the
transition to “With COVID-19” and the “K-quarantine” will inevitably end in
failure. We do not have time now. The ruling party must take the current
situation gravely. If there is no response to our efforts to reach an agreement, the 80,000
members of the union will inevitably go on a general strike and joint action. I
make it clear that we have no choice but to engage in “the most desperate
struggle in the world” at the Sejong government complex and in each region of
the country while strictly observing social distancing and infection preventive
measures. The Health and Medical
Workers’ Union wants neither a strike nor any harm to COVID-19 patients. But we
cannot stand this any longer. Medical personnel on the front lines of the
pandemic say that this strike is their last hope to stop thinking of resigning.
They are now standing on the brink. The government must give hope to our COVID-19 heroes. I urge the
government to make a sincere decision. August 31, 2021 Korean Health and Medical Workers’
Union(KHMU)
[Press Conference] Emergency Statement by KHMU President , August 31, 2021
by KANG,YeonBae posted Sep 07, 2021 Replies 0
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