Nurses, healthcare workers to go on nationwide strike Thursday

Na Soon-ja, second from left, who heads the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, speaks during a media conference at the union's office in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District, Monday. Yonhap

Essential workers for ER, ICU and surgery to stay on

By Jun Ji-hye

The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union (KHMU), comprised of nurses, caregivers and other healthcare workers, will go on an indefinite general strike beginning Thursday, calling on the government to hire more medical personnel and improve their working conditions, the union announced, Monday.

If the walkout takes place, it will mark the first general strike by the union in 19 years, after its members walked out in 2004 calling for a five-day workweek.

The planned strike will inevitably cause disruptions in the medical industry, considering that 85,000 members of the union work in a variety of medical fields across the country.

The representatives of the union said during a media conference that 92 percent of its members agreed with the need to stage a strike in a vote that was carried out from June 28 to last Friday. The turnout was 83 percent.

The union criticized the government for not delivering on a 2021 agreement, in which it promised to reduce the number of patients per nurse, expand public health services and infrastructure and improve the working conditions of healthcare workers.

The union ― affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country's largest umbrella labor groups ― renewed those requests in addition to the clarification of roles and duties of each profession and the expansion of support for hospitals that were designated to treat COVID-19 patients during the pandemic.

“If the government does not change its irresponsible attitude, we will push ahead with our strike beginning at 7 a.m. on Thursday,” Na Soon-ja, head of the union, said.

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The union will join an ongoing strike by the KCTU on Thursday and Friday, as the umbrella labor group had launched a two-week general strike on July 3 to protest the Yoon Suk Yeol government's labor policies.

Then, the medical workers' union will stage its own strike from July 17.

Still, the union said essential workers for emergency and operating rooms, intensive care units, delivery rooms and newborn units will continue to work, because such units are linked directly to the lives of patients.

Apart from these essential workers, the union expects some 45,000 members to participate in the strike on Thursday and Friday.

“The number could increase afterwards,” Na said.

The union threatened a general strike in September of 2021 amid increasing levels of fatigue among healthcare workers due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic at the time.

The union withdrew its strike plan just five hours before the deadline imposed by workers, as a last-minute compromise was reached dramatically after negotiations with the government.

The union claimed that the government has failed to implement the agreement to expand the number of healthcare personnel and improve the working conditions of medical workers, resulting in serious problems.

The union cited the recent deaths of several patients in ambulances after failing to find hospitals to accept them due to the absence of specialists.

In a bid to minimize confusion in the medical field to be caused by the strike, the Ministry of Health and Welfare formed a team headed by Second Vice Minister Park Min-soo on June 28 to monitor the situation.