Ei-iE

Korean teacher unions are actively defending their members’ status in moves to ensure that teachers’ pensions are protected benefit and that legal assistance is on-hand to protect their rights.

KTU: Strike warning over pension cuts

Members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU) are voting at the end of March to decide whether to go on strike 24 April. The KTU is affiliated to Education International (EI).

If it goes ahead, the strike will protest against the government's plan to lower pensions for civil servants, including public school teachers.

The announcement comes after the government revealed a draft law late last year requiring public workers to contribute more financially to the pension system while receiving less pension allowance from 2016 onwards.

The bill is part of a government plan to cut its growing pension deficit, forecast to reach KRW484 trillion (US$458 billion) if left unaddressed.

Public workers, however, have rejected the proposal, saying they have tolerated low pay due to promised high pensions.

KFTA: Protecting teachers’ rights

Meanwhile, the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Association (KFTA), also an EI national affiliate, together with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), have set up a local initiative to protect teachers’ rights by providing legal assistance and counselling.

The SMOE said it has allocated KRW220 million (US$200,000) for this initiative in response to growing teachers’ complaints concerning alleged abuses by students and their parents, including physical, verbal violence, or even sexual harassment.

This initiative focuses on operating the Teachers’ Rights Protection Support Centre, which previously only existed within SMOE, at district-level education offices, a move that would make help more accessible for teachers. The centre will provide counselling services and support for possible litigation processes.

Education authorities will also commission 38 lawyers to provide legal consultation to teachers. The telephone consulting service, introduced in September 2014, is free, while fees for face-to-face consulting will be charged to the SMOE.

“The ideal option would be to prevent legal disputes,” noted KFTA President Ahn Yang-ok. “To help bring amicable solutions to teacher-parent discord, the SMOE is planning on creating a consulting team of retired education workers with leadership or counselling experience, such as former principals and school counsellors.

“Legal support will be provided to teachers in the case of lawsuits, but the most important thing is to reach an agreement before going to court.”

For this, the consulting team will help with their experience and wisdom before engaging in a legal battle, he stressed.

According to the KFTA, an average of 1,500 cases of teachers’ right violations occurred annually from 2011 to 2013, and 643 cases were reported during the first semester of 2014.

Education goals

At the end of May, Korea will host the highly anticipated World Education Forum in Incheon, a major step to determining the future education goals in the UN’s post-2015 global development agenda.