Supreme Court overturns former govt. decision to outlaw progressive teachers' union
Members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) hold hands during a press conference in front of the Supreme Court in Seoul, Thursday. The Supreme Court annulled a decision by the former Park Geun-hye government to outlaw the progressive teachers' union for refusing to disallow membership to a handful of fired teachers. Yonhap
The Supreme Court overturned Thursday an appellate court ruling that had outlawed a progressive teachers' union for refusing to annul the membership of a handful of teachers who had been fired, opening the way for the organization to regain its legal status. The former Park Geun-hye government had previously banned the union for allowing the dismissed teachers to remain as members.
The full bench of the highest court accepted by a majority an appeal by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) to regain its status, sending the case back to a lower court for a re-hearing.
The Supreme Court said denying dismissed teachers the right to be members of a union was unconstitutional and against international standards. It also said it was excessive to deprive the KTU of its legal status just because it had members who were not currently holding a teaching position.
Delivering the verdict, Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su said the previous rulings on the case were "not valid," and "infringed on labor's three primary rights." He also said outlawing the union was tantamount to "denying its existence."
In October 2013, the conservative Park administration banned the union, founded in 1989, saying that having nine dismissed teachers as its members violated the law on teachers' unions that stated only incumbent teachers were recognized as members.
But the KTU argued that the nine's membership did not compromise its autonomy in collective action and bargaining power, and that the government's outlawing of it was an excessive interpretation of the law.
Since then, the KTU, one of the country's biggest teachers' unions with some 60,000 members, has been engaged in a series of legal disputes with the government.
While a district court and an appellate court sided with the administration, the KTU has repeatedly asked for a court injunction to suspend the decision. Depending on different court rulings, it alternated between being legal and illegal for three years.
The union appealed to the Supreme Court in February 2016, and the case had been pending since then. At that time, it also requested a court injunction to suspend the ban.
While the full bench of the highest court accepted the appeal by the KTU, it dismissed its request to issue an injunction in a separate ruling, leaving the matter to be resolved in the re-hearing.
Later in the day, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said it will start a process to cancel the annulment "as soon as possible," in line with the highest court's decision.
The labor minister has the authority to restore the union's legal status, even before a lower court ruling is delivered.
When this happens, the KTU can exercise its rights to collective bargaining, to call for government mediation in labor disputes and to report unfair labor practices.
"The victory was only possible because of people who have strenuously supported the union," the KTU said, "We promise to return the support by teaching sincerely." (Yonhap)