South Korea: Labor unions expose unfair hiring practices

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/222483.html

Labor unions expose unfair hiring practices
Companies under investigation say inspection results were exaggerated

A couple of weeks into the introduction of a controversial law designed to improve working conditions for non-regular employees, labor activists argue that many local companies are rushing to remove previously contracted workers from their payrolls. Businesses maintain that the new law may add more financial burden on them.

The progressive Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the conservative Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), the nation’s two largest labor umbrella groups, each announced on July 13 the results of on-site inspections conducted at local companies to investigate discrimination and other kinds of unfair practices in the employment of non-regular workers.

The inspections were conducted only weeks after the non-regular worker protection law took effect on July 1. Under the law, businesses are required to change the status of their non-regular employees to that of regular employees if their labor contracts are kept for more than two years.

According to the results of the inspections by KCTU, non-regular workers at 18 companies, ranging from hospitals to construction firms, banks and government agencies, were laid off or assigned to other jobs against their will.


E-land union members in a clash with the riot police

The KCTU said that Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital, though it agreed with its union to gradually change the status of their non-regular workers in compliance with the new law, has laid off 70-80 such employees this year alone by revoking their employment contracts ahead of the two-year deadline. In addition, Save Zone, a retail outlet, outsourced 230 cashiers, while the Bank of Korea replaced secretaries with temporary workers in April.

According to the FKTU, which conducted its own inspection by visiting 56 companies between July 4-22, the Korea Expressway Corporation is currently moving to outsource its 2,000 non-regular workers and Korea Post, Korea’s postal service, also plans to replace its 3,000 letter carriers, delivery people and postal workers with workers from temporary agencies. Both companies are state affiliates.

The unions’ findings also revealed that Seoul National University Hospital was found to have employed non-regular workers under contracts with employment terms set at zero months to allow for an immediate layoff of workers.

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