Public corporations layoff 57 percent of its irregular workers
Lee, Minhwan
Labor experts are concerned of mass dismissals in lieu of offering regular
employment to irregular workers also expanding into the private sector
Study results have emerged showing that some 57 percent of irregular workers
at public corporations had their contracts terminated after two years on the
job.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) said Sunday their study
conducted through its 25 member unions on employment changes since the
Irregular Worker Law went into effect reveals that 73 public institutions
terminated the contracts of 217 of their 379 workers (57.3 percent) who had
been working for two years as of June 30. The companies would have been
required to offer the laborers a regular employment contract on July 1. This
represents a portion of the 6,945 irregular workers employed at these
institutions.
Kang Chung-ho, a FKTU spokesman, says public institutions are taking the
lead in laying off their irregular workers instead of serving as models for
protecting irregular workers and offering them regular worker contracts.
Kang says the government needs to work to protect these workers rather than
working to extend the grace period on employing irregular workers.
The study reveals that the Korea Land Corporation (145), Korea National
Housing Corporation (31), Korea Expressway Corporation (22) and Korea
Polytechnics (19) laid off all of their irregular workers scheduled to
become regular workers.
Meanwhile, the FKTU said Daegu Metropolitan City Facilities Management
Corporation has not distributed pink slips to its irregular workers,
virtually changing the status of 100 irregular workers, who work as parking
lot attendants and the like, to regular workers. The FKTU also found that
the Suwon City Facilities Management Corporation, meanwhile, plans to change
its 30 irregular workers into regular workers.
The FKTU said it was only at public corporation unions that irregular
workers have experienced sudden dismissals. It said the recent mass lay-offs
of irregular workers at public corporations have its roots in the
administration��s one-sided public corporation policies. As a
countermeasure, the FKTU established headquarters to anchor a joint struggle
in the public sector on July 2, and plans to hold a rally of public-sector
unions with the participation of some 20,000 unionists on July 18. The
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions�� (KCTU) public transportation union
alliance plans to carry out its own investigation of the termination of
contracts of irregular workers. KCTU spokesman Lee Seung-chul said public
corporations should be models of labor-management relations, but if they
unilaterally layoff workers as a legitimate way to avoid compliance with the
law, the layoffs would expand in the private sector, too.
Please direct questions or comments to [engli...@hani.co.kr]