GOV’T-MEDICAL WORKERS REACH AGREEMENT

[Anchor Lead]

The government and health and medical workers union have reached an eleventh-hour deal with five hours left before the union-set deadline to launch a general strike. As a result, the union withdrew its plan to stage a walkout, preventing a medical crisis amid the continuing pandemic.

[Pkg]

The government and unionized healthcare workers launched negotiations in late May and held 13 rounds of talks over three months. On the last day of their negotiations, the two sides reached a last-ditch compromise. The agreement came just five hours before the union-set deadline to start a general strike. Following the sessions, the union held an extraordinary meeting and decided to accept the government’s proposal with 83 percent of attending representatives voting for it.

[Soundbite] Na Soon-ja(Union Chairperson) : "It is more important to put the agreement into action. Discussions will not end today. It will begin anew."

The two sides had been deadlocked over five sticking points, including, setting standards to recruit staffers at COVID-19 treating hospitals and devising detailed plans on strengthening the public medical service. Unionized healthcare workers also called for legally guaranteeing a ceiling on the number of patients assigned to each nurse as well as raising pays for night-shift nurses and increasing nurses responsible for training. The government and the union failed to find common grounds until the last minute, since many of the demands cannot be settled through an agreement just between them. Negotiations made progress, as the ministry promised to continuously discuss the issues with related government agencies and persuade parliament to set necessary budgets.

[Soundbite] Kwon Deok-cheol(Minister of Health and Welfare) : "The agreement was produced after 13 rounds of marathon talks. The health ministry will earnestly discuss with other government agencies and the National Assembly to revise related laws and secure necessary budgets."

The healthcare workers’ union has some 80,000 members. About 56,000 of them agreed to the union’s plan to file a dispute settlement application. The agreement is welcomed as a decision to prevent a medical crisis, such as vacuums and delays in patient care and COVID-19 testing.