News

1 September 2015

Dear Pope Francis,

The people of South Korea are urgently asking for your support.

In 1995 a Catholic Priest founded St Mary's Hospital in Incheon. The priest took this step on behalf of the Church in order to care for war orphans, the poor, and those with disability and illness.

For ten years, the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs ran the hospital and served their community. During this time they built up a professional, dedicated staff, which worked tirelessly to care for the people of Incheon.

But in 2005 the Sisters struck financial trouble and sold the hospital to the Catholic University of Korea, Incheon Diocese. Since then, standards of care at the hospital have eroded, allegations of financial dishonesty have surfaced and the staff, which had previously been so united and worked together with hospital management to deliver high quality care, has suffered. Workers have endured ongoing bullying, harassment, and unacceptable working conditions. Staff have been without pay rises for 5 years, and their families are struggling. This has all been happening whilst the hospital has grown in size and begun operating on a for-profit basis.

The situation has now reached breaking point, with a union delegate at the hospital having been singled out, verbally attacked, and constantly harassed. This week, the union delegate has, out of desperation at the situation, begun a hunger strike. This raises this matter to a level of utmost urgency. UNI Global Union, which represents over 20 million workers, in over 900 unions worldwide, has been made aware of these issues, and implore you to step in and defend these workers.

Pope Francis, we appeal to you, on behalf of the public and the staff of St Mary’s Hospital, to take action to resolve the serious problems occurring at the hospital. Though you may not have heard about the issues facing St Mary’s Hospital before now, you have made strong statements about workers’ rights, freedom of association, low wages and worker poverty. You have spoken out about the role of the Catholic Church in supporting communities and workers, and creating better societies founded on principles of social justice.

Over 5.5 million Koreans are members of the Catholic Church – that is more than 10% of the population. Even in the past ten years, the Church has seen an enormous upswing in support. The Korean people have faith that the Church can help create a better society, and now they need action to show their faith is well placed.

We urge you to step in and ensure that Bishop Choi Ki San of the Catholic Diocese in Incheon remedies the practices causing everyone concern and bringing a bad name to the Catholic Church in Korea.

We thank you for your help.

UNI Global Union