On July 3, 1928, the Wonsan Labor Union established the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital in Seoku-dong, Wonsan for the purpose of reducing medical consultation fees for its members. The union's efforts to improve the welfare of its members include the establishment of an educational institute, a consumers union, a barbershop, and a relief department. The Laborers' Hospital, which began with ten wards, was led by a team of two doctors, one midwife, two pharmacists, and four nurses. The two doctors were Cheol-sun Cha and Jeong-kwon Lee, and the midwife/nurse was Sun-jeong Kim. Union members received a 40% discount on medicine, and this was utilized by a daily average of 60 to 70 workers, or 21,000 workers annually. The Laborers' Hospital was clearly distinct from medical facilities founded as charity institutions in that funds were raised by the recipients themselves, and that the recipients formed a community based on their common status as laborers. However, the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital was shut down in roughly April 1929 due to the breaking of the general strike, and the heightened suppression of union activities prevented any additional opening of laborers' hospitals until Korea's liberation from Japan. Nevertheless, the history of the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital represents a key development in Korea's health coverage. It is not adequate to declare, as was the case in past research, Korea's health coverage to be simply an imitation of the Western system and lacking its own history. Despite some differences in scale and operation, the development of health coverage in the Korean peninsula is in line with the history of health coverage development in the West. The Wonsan Laborers' Hospital, founded and operated by the laborers themselves, thus holds great significance in the history of Korea's health coverage, The findings of this study are expected to stimulate new and more diverse discussions on the history of health coverage in Korea.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Charities ; Fees and Charges ; Financial Management ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Labor Unions ; Midwifery ; Occupations* ; Pharmacists ; Strikes, Employee

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate the effects of university hospital nurses' organizational conflict between organizational commitment and labor union commitment, so as to provide data on prevention of conflict with the hospital and to improve work achievement with commitment of two different groups: hospital and labor union commitment. METHODS: Data collection was conducted from May 15 to 31, 2011 for nurses registered in the labor union of a university hospital. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test and multiple regression. RESULTS: Organizational commitment of the nurses showed significant differences according to age, position and work experience, and degree of labor union commitment according to academic achievement. The factors affecting labor union commitment were organizational conflict and recognition of need for labor union, which accounted for 19% of the variance. Factors affecting organizational commitment were organizational conflict, recognition of need for labor union, participation in organizational events, and renewal of membership in the union, which accounted for 33% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that there is a need to improve work achievement by minimizing conflict and preventing labor disputes for better organizational commitment and labor union commitment of nurses.
Achievement ; Data Collection ; Dissent and Disputes ; Hospitals, University ; Labor Unions

OBJECTIVES: This study determined the work schedules of public project workers who work an irregular shift and assessed the effect of these schedules on depression. METHODS: Study subjects were 2934 laborers who are members of seven labor unions. Each was given a questionnaire requesting basic personal information, habits, socioeconomic status, and work schedules. Information gathered on work schedules included daytime, nighttime, and weekend work hours. Depression was evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), with Laborers who checked "not depressed" and "slightly depressive" categorized to a low-risk group, whereas laborers who checked "depressed" and "severely depressed" were categorized to a high-risk group. We used the Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression to examine associations between work schedules and depression. RESULTS: Laborers on an irregular work schedule averaged 47.8 hours/week and laborers who working over 48 hours/week comprised over half (54.5%) of the total population. Laborers performing night work, Sunday work, and Saturday work more than once in a month made up 25.7%, 30.8% and 33.5% of the examined population, respectively. A high-risk for depression was identified in 10.4% of laborers. Using logistic regression, depression was statistically associated with working : over 10 hours a day (OR=1.63, 95% CI 1.10~2.43), night work (OR=2.20, 95% CI 1.46~3.32), Sunday work (OR=1.81, 95% CI 1.15~2.85) and Saturday work (OR=1.82 95% CI 1.18~2.82). CONCLUSION: A significant number of laborers with irregular working shifts work long hours and on weekends. Depression was significantly associated with this type of work schedule.
Appointments and Schedules ; Depression ; Humans ; Labor Unions ; Logistic Models ; Public Sector ; Questionnaires ; Social Class

Most of the pneumoconiosis, which is common occupational diseases, is found here in Korea can be Gategorized to coal miner's pneumoconiosis. However, recently pneumoconiosis has been found in tHe workers of manufacturing factories, Periodic Health examination is important not only detection of occupationsl disease but also post-examination Health care of occupational disease patient. Accordingly, to study post-examination Health GaTe statHs of workers with pneumoconiosis diagnosed from 1991 to 1993 in the perioaic Health examination, all 43 pneumoconiosis patients in 22 manufacturing factories in Incheon were reviewed. Chest radiologic findings of 43 workers were suspected pneumoconiosis (20 workers, 46.5%) , pneumoconiosis stage 1(20 workers, 45.5%) and pneumoconiosis stage II (3 workers, 7.0%) . Among the 1.espondents, 40 workers (93.0%) answered that they received their health examination results and 24 werkers (55.8%) Had reguest for compensation of occupationsl disease. Only 14 workers(32.6%) Had changed their workplace while 21 workers (48.8%) did not. Reasons for not taking the post-examination health care enough were worker's ignorance of adminstrative process for Compensation (28 workers,65.1%) , mild status of dlsease (6 workers, 14.0%) and financial problem (3 workers, 7.0%) . Post~examination health care of the workers diagnosed as pneumoconiosis had significant correlation with the presence of health care manager in workplace and the employer concerns for occupational disease of workers. The improvement of working environment is related witH the presence of labor union in workplace. These results suggested that the presence of health care manager in the workplace and concerns for workers health by employer were important in performing appropriate post-examination health care for workers with pneumoconiosis in manufacturing factories.
Coal ; Compensation and Redress ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Humans ; Incheon ; Korea ; Labor Unions ; Occupational Diseases ; Pneumoconiosis* ; Thorax

PURPOSE: The goals of this research are to find out factors influencing the duration of work-related disability and to present implications for policies to prevent delayed recovery. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 238 workers who had been proved to be industrial disaster victims for occupational low back pain between January 1 2000 and December 31 2003. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the proportion of duration of disability associated with low back pain, and Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify factors predicting it. The model distinguished main symptom variables affecting acute(< or =90 days) and chronic phase of disability (>90 days). RESULT: Fifty percent of the workers had not recovered in 408 days. The results of Cox regression show that delayed duration of disability was predicted by diagnosis, pain radiation (in chronic phase), sex, the size and labor union of the workplace, scheduled rest, compensation from the company, and operation. CONCLUSION: Duration of disability associated with compensated low back pain is influenced not only by factors related to the company and compensation system but also by individual factors. Thus, future efforts to reduce duration of disability may need to take into account all these factors.
Compensation and Redress ; Diagnosis ; Disaster Victims ; Labor Unions ; Low Back Pain* ; Survival Analysis*

OBJECTIVES: The sudden increase in work-related musculoskeletal disease is caused by sociopsychological factors and ergonomic risk factors of the work process. This study evaluates the relationship between the symptoms of musculoskeletal disease and the sociopsychological factors. METHODS: A questionnaire survey and ergonomic evaluation were administered to workers of a shipyard company with a high incidence rate of musculoskeletal disease. To quantify the pain score associated with a diagnosis of musculoskeletal disease, the pain degree(1~5points), frequency (1~4 points) and duration (1~4 points) were multiplied to give a maximum score of 80. A score above 64 points on the pain score was defined as 'severe pain group'. This 'severe pain group' was chosen as the dependent variable and the sociopsychological factors were evaluated as independent variables with structural equation modeling based on a decision tree of exhaustive CHAID. RESULTS: The standardized regression weights value with reference to the REBA score(0.54) had the largest value by the type of company, followed in order by joining and acting labor union(.313), job demand(.172), senior support(-.095), insufficient sleep (.092), and colleague support (.061). CONCLUSION: The symptoms of musculoskeletal disease were greatly affected by sociopsychological factors such as whether joining and acting labor union, job demand, and senior or colleague support.
Decision Trees ; Diagnosis ; Incidence ; Labor Unions ; Musculoskeletal Diseases* ; Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Weights and Measures

To acquire more useful data for the improvement of industrial health servicies, the knowledge-attitude study was carried out by questionnaire on 264 workers in Incheon area from November, 1989 to March, 1990. The results of this study were as follows; 1. Almost half of workers responded that their health status in poor. 2. The Knowledge of respondents on occupational health showed considerable difference depending upon duration of work in their company. Genverally, the respondents with long duration of work tend to be higher in knowldedge score than those with short duration of work. 3. Most of the workers (82.6%) thought that creating better working environment and improvement of working condition would be most efficient way for protecting the workers' health. 4. Degree of labor union activity, duration of work, participation for labor union were revealed as major determinants of attitude for industrial health. 5. Most of workers (91.1%) responded that they would like to participate in health education program if available, and monthly education would be adequate for them. The contents of program which the workers preferred were early detection and treatment of occupational disease.
Data Collection ; Education ; Health Education ; Incheon ; Labor Unions ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health* ; Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: In times of continuous change and volatile markets, organizations are increasingly characterized by downsizing, work intensification, and resource rationalization. This has resulted in diversification, and the emergence of new risks within the field of occupational health and safety, with an important impact. This paper focuses on one such type of risk in the modern workplace-psychosocial risks. The current study aimed to explore stakeholder perspectives, regarding the extent to which psychosocial risks are incorporated into strategic risk management practices, at both the business and policy level. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 professionals, representing employer, expert, policy maker, and trade union stakeholder perspectives. RESULTS: It was found that the majority of organizations do not sufficiently, if at all, understand and incorporate psychosocial risks into strategic decision making, whereby the key barrier related to practical difficulties of not knowing how to manage psychosocial risks adequately. CONCLUSION: The study found that there is a need to close the gap between policy and practice on a number of levels. Future recommendations comprise a policy framework and infrastructure underpinned by educational initiatives, partnerships, and networks to drive a shift in attitudes toward recognizing the duality of the concept of risk (including both potential negative and positive outcomes) and moving beyond simple regulatory compliance.
Administrative Personnel ; Commerce* ; Compliance ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Labor Unions ; Occupational Health ; Policy Making* ; Rationalization ; Risk Management*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate conflicts and the experiences of conflict resolution of hospital nurses. METHODS: This qualitative study used phenomenological methodology. The research participants were 8 nurses of C hospital. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews from November 2016 to February 2017. The data analysis method was based on Colaizzi's approach. RESULTS: The study results showed that the experiences of nurses consisted of 15 themes and 6 theme clusters: 1) Ambiguous role, 2) Recognizing lack of competence, 3) Difficulty maintaining relationships, 4) Unsatisfactory work environment, 5) Efforts to resolve conflicts, and 6) Conflict resolution process through labor union. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study recommend that hospital organizations and managers should pay attention to improving the work environment and organizational culture of members. The results of the present study can improve the understanding of various aspects of the daily life of hospital nurses.
Labor Unions ; Mental Competency ; Methods ; Negotiating ; Organizational Culture ; Qualitative Research ; Statistics as Topic

BACKGROUND: Presenteeism refers to the phenomenon of working while sick. Its development can be attributed to not only somatic symptoms but also underlying social agreements and workplace atmosphere. In this study, we analyzed presenteeism among workers from various industries, focusing on job-related stress with stratification on the presence of depression. METHODS: We conducted the study with data from questionnaires filled in by different enterprises enrolled in the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. Workers' depressive symptoms were investigated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2, while questions on job-related stress and presenteeism were derived from the short form of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale and the official Korean version of the Work-Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire-General Health, respectively. Multilevel logistic analysis was conducted to determine the statistical differences derived from the differences between companies. RESULTS: In total, 930 participants (753 men and 177 women) from 59 enterprises participated in the research. We conducted multilevel logistic regression to determine the association between the variables and presenteeism, with stratification by the presence of depression. Higher job demands and higher interpersonal conflict showed significantly elevated odds ratios (ORs) in univariate models and in the multivariate multilevel model. In the final model of total population, fully adjusted by general and work-related characteristics, higher job demands (OR: 3.29, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.08–5.21) and interpersonal conflict (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.29–2.71) had significantly higher ORs—a tendency that remained in participants without depression. CONCLUSIONS: This study reflected the factors associated with presenteeism among workers from various enterprises. The findings revealed that job-related stress was closely related to presenteeism in both the total population and in the population without depression. Thus, it emphasized interventions for managing job stress among workers to reduce presenteeism in general workers' population.
Atmosphere ; Depression ; Humans ; Labor Unions ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Presenteeism