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Article

5 Mar 2021

Author:
IndustriALL Global Union

S. Korea: Decades long union campaign leads to ratification of core ILO Conventions on freedom of association, collective bargaining and forced labour

“Union campaign leads to South Korea ratifying core ILO Conventions”, 05 March 2021

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) have relentlessly campaigned for the ratification of ILO’s core Conventions…

The ratifications of the Convention on Freedom of Association (C87), the Convention on Right to Organize and the Collective Bargaining (C98) and Convention on Forced Labour (C29) will require the South Korean government to take steps reforming its labour laws and protect workers’ rights.

South Korea’s government has been under pressure from the European Union to ratify ILO’s fundamental conventions, as stated in the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement, in force since 2011.

On 25 January this year, an EU panel of experts concluded that the Korean government violated the labour commitments in the agreement.

Kim Ho Gyu, president of IndustriALL affiliate the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU) says:

“We thank the international trade union movement for the solidarity during our thirty years of struggles for ratification of the ILO conventions. We pledge that KMWU will continue the struggle throughout the supply chains of the Korean chaebol.”

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) made an official submission to the panel of experts on 15 January 2020.