Unions and Associations

Mostly I eschew Unions as bastions of people with small minds and allusions to grandeur, more often than not obsessed with the procedural minutiae of meetings and the like instead of the goals and causes that the group was supposedly pursuing.
Compulsory membership especially irks me, as is the case with University student unions in New Zealand. Imagine the amount of bile boiling up inside me when I recently sent off my fees for my Masters including $26 for student union fees. (I'm a distance student remember, and have never - and likely never will - step foot on a Victoria University campus - but I digress.)
Plus unionists are communists.
Notwithstanding this, I was sufficiently intrigued that I fired off an email this evening inquiring as to membership of ATEK - the Association for Teachers of English in Korea. It's probably about time that we E-2, E-1 and various F visa holders formed an interest group here in The Republic. Especially in light of things like late last year's Canadian pedophile reactionary tightening of visa process - gate, the conflagration of Korean Media whoring when it comes to "Native Teachers" who, despite aspersions, are (mostly) not here raking in mega bucks while running riot through the countryside and Korea's daughter's bedrooms, and the ancient and revered practice of dodgy hakwon owners screwing over unsuspecting (and ultimately doe-eyed and innocent) teachers. (Make of all that what you will).
Up until now the only option for any sort of group dedicated to pursuing our interests were the (rather militant and ultimately uninterested) Korean Teacher's Union (Federation?) and KOTESOL, a group to which I have only had limited exposure to - primarily through a colleague who, despite his best intentions I'm sure, was one of those busy body types that fit snugly into the stereotype outlined in the opening paragraph of this very post.
ATEK sets out it's goals thusly:

Advocacy - to provide a voice for all contract teachers of English in Korea, and work to improve conditions for teachers, especially those without representation.

OK, my own situation aside, conditions are pretty good here for 99% of teachers, alas there are a lot of complaining bastards as well, and my aversion to unions leads me to think I can represent myself better. However if, as promised in this Korea Times article, the association is serious in seeking "visa flexibility" akin to what goes on in Japan then I am all for it. I have long advocated the need to break the tie between employer and teacher when it comes to visas. It is why above mentioned hakwon owners get away with much of what they do. Oh, they mentioned something about the banks as well.

Dialogue - to open discussion with all stakeholders, including existing teachers associations, industry labor organizations, government agencies, education providers, parents, and learners, about the role of contract teachers and the direction of English language education in Korea

Mmmmm. Tasty tasty dialogue. The inclusion of the term "stakeholder" is enough to make me want to vomit think otherwise, but the last part - the direction of English Education is VITAL. Korea has no goals other than "Make everyone speak good Engrishee" when it comes to English. If ATEK can get "stakeholders" to listen and set some solid quantifiable goals in English Education rather than just importing "23000 Native Speakers" then it will be on to something!

Development - to provide opportunities for professional growth through educator workshops, curriculum development, and syllabus and materials design, with the aim of improving the quality of English language teaching in Korea.

Ditto. It's not just the Korean system that needs to get it's crap together. I've often thought that giving teaching positions to random graduates was actually a good thing, adding character and a multitude of different viewpoints to classrooms across Korea (something Korean kids sorely need), but I know I would have done a hell of a lot better when I first got here had someone sat me down for an hour or so and explained the system to me; Where I fit in as a hakwon, elementary or even university teacher and somewhere else to turn other than word searches and Boggles World in terms of what to actually teach.
In the Korean Times article interim president Tom Rainey-Smith (A kiwi so it can't all be bad) also hinted at some sort of "cultural induction" which is sorely needed by some people around here.
Finally ATEK wants to open about all it's activities:

Accountability - to achieve these goals in a democratic, transparent, and accountable way.

Good. No complaint here.
After reading all that don't get me wrong. Like I say: I'm in. I'll just be the noisy bugger at the back asking questions all the time. (Minutiae aye!?)
However the biggest problems I see for this thing getting off the ground are general apathy amongst "the community" (There is no real "community") and money. If it ain't free or less than $10 a year I might actually think twice. (My aversion to unions leads me to think I can represent myself better) And then if the organization is taking money off the government then it is selling out and I can definitely represent my interests better myself.
So I would encourage you all to join up. Membership inquiries to members@atek.or.kr and show some sort of interest. At the very least, if it's not for you in the long run, or it falls on it's face, all you have to do is put their emails in the spam folder.