By Lee Kyung-min
The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that dismissed teachers are not eligible to be members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union (KTU).
In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled that Article No. 2 of the Teachers’ Union Law, which bans dismissed teachers from becoming unionists, was constitutional.
The ruling virtually backs the government’s 2013 decision to outlaw the progressive teachers’ union after it refused to remove nine of its 60,000 members, who were dismissed as teachers.
The constitutional court’s decision is expected to affect deliberations by the Seoul High Court on whether the KTU is an illegal group.
The article in question stipulates that only incumbent educators in elementary, middle, and high schools are eligible to join the union.
The judges said the article did not violate teachers’ constitutional rights, countering the union’s argument that it gravely infringed upon their labor rights.
The KTU strongly protested the ruling, saying the court’s decision was not in line with international labor standards.
The petition to review the constitutionality was filed by the Seoul High Court in September during its review of the Seoul Administrative Court’s ruling made in favor of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s decision to outlaw the teachers’ union.
Last year, the KTU filed a suit with the administrative court, challenging the ministry’s decision in October 2013.
The ministry did so based on the fact that the KTU retained the nine dismissed educators as union members, which was in violation of the article deliberated Thursday.
In November, the administrative court ruled in favor of the ministry saying it was within its legal discretion to outlaw the union, which the KTU appealed.
The appellate court is to resume the trial proceedings. The case had been put on hold until the constitutional court’s ruling.
Earlier in the day, Education International (EI), the world’s largest teachers’ association, and the International Trade Union Confederation filed a petition with the Constitutional Court here saying the provision was far behind global labor standards.
“EI will stand by Korean teachers in the defense of their civil, political and union rights,” the group said in a statement released by the KTU.
“We urge the Korean government to take necessary measures to recognize the legal status of the KTU, and to respect international labor standards.”
Established in 1989, the KTU is the second-largest teachers’ union after the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations.