(Yonhap) -- The government on Thursday warned firm action against a rally scheduled for this weekend by an outlawed public workers' union, calling it "an illegal collective action."
     A newly organized union of civil servants, formed after a merger of separate groups, is planning an inaugural rally on Saturday in Seoul. A large number of government workers are likely to take part.

   "The government will deal sternly with civil servants participating in the rally in accordance with the law and principle, having concluded that it is an illegal collective action," the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said in a statement.

   Anyone found to have participated in the rally will be punished without exception, it said.

   The union declared a struggle against the government earlier this month after the labor ministry rejected its registration as a legal body for the second time since last December. The ministry said the group retains dismissed public workers and staffers who are not civil servants as members, which is banned under labor laws. 
   The union denies having dismissed workers as members and says staffers account for only eight of some 100,000 members.

   Union leaders vowed in a press conference Thursday to go ahead with the rally and accused the government of oppression.

   "We have been holding similar rallies every year since 2003, but the Public Administration and Security Ministry is threatening to punish the participants, defining it an illegal collective action," they said in a press conference statement.

   The union also filed a suit with the prosecution against Lee Dal-gon, former minister of public administration and security, and another ministry official for abuse of authority and obstruction of duty. Lee resigned early this month to run for governor of South Gyeongsang Province in the June 2 local elections.

<Copyright YonhapNews Agency All Rights Reserved>