96% of TBS workers irregular

‘Freelance’ broadcast workers vulnerable under Labor Law

By Lee Kyung-min

Almost 96 percent of employees at Seoul Traffic Broadcasting, better known as TBS, are irregular workers, a survey showed Monday.

According to the survey of 469 employees at the public broadcaster run by the Seoul city government, 450, or 95.9 percent, were irregular workers. The remaining 19 were city government officials temporarily posted there for up to two years.

News producers, journalists, newsreaders, cameramen and technical crews were hired under different contracts, with no one guaranteed a regular position.

Of these, 179 who are referred to as “freelancers” face a constant threat of dismissal despite having the same amount and nature of work. The annual pay gap between regular and irregular workers was up to more than 2.1 million won ($1,860).

More than a third, or 36 percent, of respondents said they had never signed an employment contract. Contract workers have their contracts renewed every month, with not one person having as much as a year of employment guaranteed.

Kim Jong-jin, a researcher at the Korea Labor and Society Institute, said such employment contracts require a prompt overhaul to better protect job security for many irregular workers.

“TBS employment contracts show great similarity with a working system implemented by the U.K. or the U.S., which increasingly favor flexibility of the labor market, which is just another way of saying easy layoffs,” Kim said.

The basic rights of workers at broadcasting companies such as KBS and MBC have been neglected thus far, with many of them having to pay state-run health insurance and pension premiums out of their own pocket. Employees hired directly pay only half, with the employer covering the other half.

Kim said Korea should learn from New York City's “Freelance Isn't Free Act,” which applies to freelance contracts and agreements. This law, which recently took effect, dictates that all freelance agreements valued over $800 be in writing and requires prompt payment for services.

It requires full compensation for services to be paid by a date specified in the contract or within 30 days after completion of services where no date is specified.

Hiring parties, it stipulates, cannot include provisions in their contracts to forbid the independent contractor from participating or receiving relief from class or collective actions or representative proceedings.

Also, the employment contract cannot prevent the independent contractor from bringing a suit in court, or from disclosing the terms of the contract to the labor authorities. Any such provisions are considered void and will be unenforceable.

Employers are also forbidden from retaliating against an independent contractor for exercising, or attempting to exercise, their rights under the act.

The city’s labor policy division said a feasibility study is underway to review converting irregular workers to regular ones.