KHMU Newsletter No. 16 December 1, 2020

Na Soon-Ja Elected the 9^th President of the KHMU

Secure a Sufficient Level of Health and Medical Personnel and Enhance Public Medical Services; Make Industry-level Negotiation Enacted; Set a Higher Standard of Working Conditions!

We Move Toward the Era of 200,000 Trade Union Members Now.

The incumbent President Na Soon-ja was reelected in the 9^th KHMU Leadership Election. Being a single candidate in this direct election that was proceeded from November 17 to 19, she gained 47,761 votes out of the total 70,256. The voting rate recorded 68%, out of which 91.2% approved Ms Na. She ran for the election as a team of candidacy: Jang Won-seok for the Chief Vice President and Song Keum-hee for the Secretary General.

“I promise to ensure they hire more health and medical staff and expand public medical services; empower the union in the policy decision-making process; have industry-level collective bargaining legislated and set a higher standard of working conditions; foster union leaders and connect older with newer generations; and increase the number of union members to 200,000. With that, I will try my utmost to pave the solid way to the future of the KHMU,” said President Na.

The 9^th leadership will serve from the first day of 2021 to December 31, 2023, for 3 years.

Those elected proposed action strategies on various industry-level negotiations and tripartite social dialogue:

1.    To establish a collective bargaining committee attended by in-field workers so as to accomplish a standardized collective agreement at each medical institution.

2.    To realize systemic negotiations taking place at the central level, by characteristics, and at the field level as well as normalization and legislation of industry-level bargaining negotiations standards.

3.    To put a priority on the rights to resting when sick and safely working with COVID-19 Joint Collective Bargaining Struggle next year which is the first year of the incoming leadership’s new tenure.

4.    To actively initiate Social Dialogue for Every One Million Health and Medical Workers and stronger job and medical safety net. 

 

The President-elect also added that she would make a proud workplace with a 36-hour workweek system, an improved night shift and overall shift work system, which enhance the working condition standards, pushing the government to establish the health and medical personnel center and better personnel qualification criteria by job types. Plus, under her leadership, the KHMU will lead health and medical agenda by expanding the union’s involvement in policy-making processes, fighting for enhanced public medical services and pushing ahead with development and improvement plans by types and characteristics of each medical institution. 

Furthermore, Ms Na promised to unionize more workers to reach 200,000 membership, politically empower workers, accomplish the three basic labor standards initiated by Jeon Tae-il, stop evil-revision of labor law, promote non-contact union activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, foster leaders connecting different generations, put in-field workers at the center and design various and creative programs which union members can directly participate in.

 

Meanwhile, the KHMU held a leadership election for the positions of the 9^th President, Chief Vice-President and Secretary General in parallel with 11 heads of regional head offices. A single candidate or a single team ran for the election and was elected in most of the voting places. Most of the branches also held elections for their new branch head during the same period.