If you haven’t heard about this issue yet let me give you a quick summary. In September USFK issued a new curfew policy on all USFK personnel to include civilian contractors because of force protection reasons. Alledgedly there are terrorist suicide bombers hiding in every alleyway here in Korea. Just about every contractor I know is furious about the curfew. Not so much because they want to go down range late at night and hang out with drinky girls but because they feel that they are civilians and shouldn’t be treated like children by the army.

What I find interesting is the fact that force protection is the reason for the curfew when in fact every soldier and contractor is not fooled by the curfews real intentions. Everyone knows the curfew is because of human trafficking and prostitution. If the army would just come out and say that than they would probably have less people complaining because now they seem very disingenuous every time they claim force protection. If the reason contractors and soldiers have a curfew is because of force protection than why doesn’t the army make all the Korean civilian contractors comply with the curfew? They work on every US military installation across the country and since Korea has such an “extensive terrorist network” they could easily be targeted by the terrorists just like civilian workers are targeted in Iraq.

Now the latest update to this only in USFK soap opera is that the contractors union is demanding back pay for the time they are confined to their homes at night. This is actually pretty clever.

The union that represents civilian U.S. Army workers in South Korea is planning this week to ask for thousands of dollars in back pay for the more than 700 hours its members have spent at home complying with U.S. Forces Korea’s curfew policy, according to the union’s president.

The union says its current contract with USFK and the 8th Army requires the government to pay the normal wage for hours spent on “stand-by duty” in response to military restrictions that require civilian workers to remain home in a state of readiness.

Since September, USFK leaders have ordered civilian workers to comply with the troops’ nightly curfew to ensure safety and readiness among all personnel — servicemembers, civilian workers and private contractors — who support the military mission here on the peninsula.

The expected request from Local 1363 of the National Federation of Federal Employees will ask for an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 for each civilian worker and will serve as a first step toward filing a formal grievance on the issue, the local’s president, Jeffrey Meadows, said Friday from his Army Corps of Engineers office at Humphreys.

“We respect the authority the Army has to impose the curfew on us,” Meadows said during a phone interview. “We believe that management should compensate us for it.”

Wow that is a lot of money they are requesting. Here is the excerpt of their contract they are pointing to as reason for the back pay.

“If he wants to maintain readiness, we deserve to be compensated,” Meadows said.

A portion of the union’s current contract states civilian workers should be considered on the job if “the employee is restricted to his or her living quarters or designated post of duty; or has his or her activities substantially limited; and is required to remain in a state of readiness to perform work.”

It will be interesting to see how the army responds to this. Here is a excerpt from the article I found most interesting.

USFK repeatedly has defended the curfew as a necessary tool to protect and prepare those who are a part of the U.S. military effort in South Korea. Part of that effort includes enforcing a 51-year-old armistice between North and South Korea, as well as responding to the more modern threat of terrorist acts, USFK spokespeople and commanders have said.

You are more likely to get hit by a terrorist attack in the United States than you are in Korea yet there is no curfew on soldiers and contractors in the United States. Plus if readiness is an issue than why did USFK have no curfew as little as a few years ago the last time I was here? The army has waged a campaign against human trafficking and prostitution and the army has wanted to cut down on the amount of off-post incidents. This curfew is a tool to make that happen. The army just isn’t selling it very well.