Teachers` union should abide by law

The Constitutional Court, by an 8-1 vote, has declared constitutional a law that provided legal grounds for the government`s depriving the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) of its legal status as a labor union, dimming the prospect for the union`s legal battle to regain the status. The law limits the union`s membership to incumbent teachers. With the ruling, the KTU will likely lose its appeals lawsuit seeking the nullification of the education ministry`s outlawing the union.

"Allowing fired teachers to join the union could possibly undermine its independence," the court said, adding that denying fired teachers member of the union cannot be seen as excessively limiting teachers` right to unite. Even though the law is constitutional, it is still up a separate court to decide whether to deprive the KTU of its legal status as a labor union. In 2001, however, the Supreme Court found legitimate the labor ministry`s order that the KTU revise its regulation which allowed dismissed teachers to join the union. If the Seoul High Court respects the two top courts` decisions, it will likely uphold a lower court`s ruling that the KTU has lost its status as a labor union.

The KTU had it coming. It is outrageous for the union to claim that the government went too far to outlaw the 60,000-member union just because of nine dismissed teachers who maintain the KTU membership is outrageous. In fact, the KTU has virtually abandoned its 60,000 members just to protect the nine. Since 2010, the government has demanded that the KTU take measures to meet the legal requirement. The union has refused to do so and stood up against the demand by taking the issue to a court.

If the KTU loses its legal status, it will be reduced to a voluntary association, taking a severe blow to its union activities. Its membership fees have been paid automatically from teachers` salaries. Once outlawed, each member has to put the money into the union`s bank account, prompting members with weaker loyalty to leave the union. All of its full-time union members would have to return to school. After the lower court ruling, the education ministry ordered full-time union members to do so.

The KTU claims that the law runs counter to international labor standard. Even if so, they should first persuade the National Assembly to revise the law. The union`s act so far has been the same as teaching students to break the law if they did not like it. How could the KTU call itself a union of teachers who teach students to abide by the law?