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KHMU Request for Labor Dispute Mediation on 136 Medical Institutions

If Agreement is NOT Reached During the Mediation Process, General Strike will Begin.

 

At the press conference that took place on 18 August, the KHMU (The Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union) announced that it requested for labor dispute mediation on 136 medical institutions. In case that no agreement is reached during the 15 days of mediation, the health and medical union will go into the general strike on September 2. From the end of May, the union had carried out negotiations with the central government, employer representatives and site employers, but it failed to reach an agreement with any of them. On the same day as when the press conference was held, around 56,000 union members of 124 out of the total 196 union branches submitted the request for the dispute mediation all together. The rest 72 branches didn’t turn in the request as negation was impossible due to individual sites’ situations.

 

Urging practical measures to increase health workers, the KHMU President Na Soon-ja said, “Over the past 6 months, hospitals could barely afford to function by squeezing sweat and blood of medical staff. But no one is sure of when this pandemic ends and the President Moon of ROK didn’t keep his word although he promised to secure more nurses and improve working conditions. And since then, no changes have been made at all.” She also highlighted the urgency of a higher level of staff. “In 2018, the government openly avowed to expand public medical services to resolve the imbalance issues among different regions in health services and it has since repeatedly said the same, but this as well was not realized at all,” she added.

 

At the same time, President Na appealed to citizens. “The general strike that the KHMU is planning to go into is not away from its pursuit to public medical services for patients and people. We demand more health personnel and expand public medical services for all.”

 

In its press release, the KHMU urged: “With this prolonged COVID 19 pandemic, it is now the time for the government and the national assembly to swiftly change its response strategies. Also, political parties and presidential candidates should reconsider and change the courses that they have taken so far.” It added: Listen to our voice and reflect our requests right away!”

 

In addition, the union highlighted that without dedications and sacrifices of medical staff and health workers in the public medical sector, which is less than 10% of the total medical sector, medical services could never have been maintained. The government first should assure a sufficient level of personnel and improved working conditions for those who fight at the front line in this battle with COVID-19 pandemic. They also demanded more and better public medical services at the level of 70 medical zone unit across the nation.

 

The KHMU has requested the following eight items to transform the current quarantine system to one that should work in a longer term against the prolonged COVID 19 pandemic:

 

For three requests to expand public medical services, 1. establish infectious disease dedicated hospitals asap, set up a comprehensive personnel guideline for COVID 19 treatment hospitals and institutionalize life and safety allowances 2. secure one public medical center in every 70 medical zone unit nationwide 3. secure facility, equipment and manpower for public hospitals to solve the deficit issues that incur due to public services for public interest.

 

For five requests to improve working conditions and secure medical personnel, 1. come up with a guideline for an adequate level of personnel by job categories, legislate the number of nurses per patient, and extend nursing- care integrated services 2. implement a regular and predictable shiftwork system, expand the policy supportive for education and training-dedicated nurses 3. root out illegal medical practices (in prescription by non-qualified personnel, consent acquisition practice, treatment and procedures, surgery and pharmacy) 4. provide quality medical services to restrict employment of atypical workers by strengthening assessment criteria 5. secure more medical doctors and establish public medical colleges.

 

The KHMU will continue to negotiate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare although it submitted a request for labor dispute mediation. In addition, it will try its best to reach an agreement within the 15 day medication period. However, in case that it fails to find a middle point with the other parties, the KHMU will launch general strike on September 2, following the vote of union members for industrial actions between August 18 and 26.