공무원 노동조합의 정치활동 범위와 한계

Political activities can be specified as the participation of members of the society in indirect or direct manner in decision making of public policies such as casting votes, participating in rallies and joining a political party of their own accord. The issue with such political activities is that whether or not they can be examine through the union activities of Public Servants Labor Union(hereon referred to as public servants union) and civil servants who are union workers(including teachers). Recently the support of political parties by the union members of public servants union and teachers union, have been raised a social issue. In response to the state of affairs declaration by The Korean Teachers & Education Workers Union, some district courts ruled as innocent at the first trial by Jeon-ju District Court and Daejon District Court. Others gave guilty verdicts (The first and second trials by Inchon District Court and district courts of Chung-ju, Jeju and Pusan). As such, even the judicial branch has different rulings on the matter. The existing National Public Service Law(including regional public service regulations) and Public Servants’ Labor Act(including Teachers Labor Law) place restrictions on the political activities of public servants, but the scope of restrictions and details are not clear, causing social commotions. That is the regulating laws pertaining to political activities of public servants are too general and thus, it has been pointed out that they are open to interpretation and disputes, decreasing the effectiveness and necessitating the complexity in the regulations. It is not simply a matter of legal logicality as to whether or not to limit the political activities of public servants union and public servants or allow them as a form of freedom of expression. The matter should require comprehensive judgments in consideration of the nation’s political, economical and social situations. Based on such realistic insight into the situation, the study intends to propose and interpret more specific grounds for support, in respect to the limit on political activities of as public servants union and teachers. Until present, labor union’s political activities have long been restricted (Former Labor Union Act, Article 1, Section 2). However with the amendment to Labor Law in 1998 and the Constitutional Court’s ruling which states “ the stipulation which bans only labor organizations from donating for political fund violates the fundamental nature of the freedom of forming organizations and the freedom of expression against the principle of equality”. This ruling as a turning point, ordinary workers are allowed the political activities. On the other hand, the regulations limiting the political activities of public servants’ union, public servants and teachers as a measure to ensure political neutrality and the protection of people’s rights to learn still remain, drawing disputes about its validity. There exists the critical angle which claims that excessively restricting the public servants’ freedom of political activities limits their freedom to freely express their political views. It is also proposed that the need for political neutrality in public servants persists because, “Legal provisions limiting the political activities of public servants violates the freedom for them to join a political party and participate in party activities, their rights for the pursuit of happiness and the rights for equality. They further violates the freedom of assembly and association, freedom to participate in political campaigns and equal opportunities for campaign activities and must be amended to the legal systems of developed countries, limiting only the political activities which could cause the persons to interfere with their performance.” There have been more concerns for more specific criticisms on the regulating laws limiting the political activities of public servants.