News

For the first time ever in Korea’s modern industrial relations history, the unions, employers and the government have reached a consensus and issued a joint tripartite declaration to address the challenges of decent work conditions and job creation in the healthcare sector. The declaration was announced on August 23 at an event hosted by the “Presidential Committee on Job Creation”. This marks a new milestone in Korea’s industrial relations and the birth of a tripartite negotiating mechanism focusing on the healthcare sector.

UNI Apro’s Regional Secretary, Christopher Ng praised the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union (KHMU), and especially its President, Sister Yoo Ji Hyun, for their unyielding efforts at the forefront of the social dialogue process leading up to the Declaration. He said, “I congratulate KHMU and Sister Yoo for leading this breakthrough for unions in Korea! It shows that with persistence and patience, unions remains essential and integral to the social dialogue process. This is a win for all social partners and workers in the Korean healthcare sector.”

The tripartite constituents recognized through the ‘Tripartite Joint Declaration on Job Creation in the Healthcare Sector’ on the urgent need to improve working conditions such as working hours, shift management system, staffing levels and staff benefits. More importantly, the issue of irregular workforce will also be addressed by pushing for more regularization of irregular workers. The Declaration also listed ten identified major challenges ranging from goals and directions to action plans for decent job creation in the healthcare sector.

It is expected the new tripartite social dialogue mechanism will work in conjunction with a newly formed sub-committee specializing on the health and medical sector to address these identified challenges. The sub-committee will be formed under the auspices of the “Presidential Committee on Job Creation” and could start operating from as soon as September 2017 onwards.

For more details on the ‘Tripartite Joint Declaration on Job Creation in the Healthcare Sector’, please go to this article: http://bogun.nodong.org/english/
Photos source: KHMU