By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
Thousands of police raided a discount store in southern Seoul Tuesday to disperse workers who have been holding a sit-in strike for the past three days calling for the reinstatement of dismissed non-regular workers and a pay raise.
About 5,000 police officers removed some 200 striking unionized workers from E-Land at around 5 a.m., Monday. Although there were some scuffles initially, the police took the workers to police stations within one hour.
The protest by the union began after E-Land, one of the nation's major retailers, laid off more than 900 non-regular employees at its Homever and New Core stores before the country's new labor law regarding them took effect this month.
The law, which went into effect on July 1, obliges companies to reassign non-regular employees who have been working for more than two years to regular worker status.
Police had raided two E-land outlets in Sangam-dong and Gangnam on July 20 to end a month-long sit-in strike. The unionists firm on their demand, however, reoccupied an outlet in Gangnam before dawn Sunday as negotiations with management ended in failure.
The workers chanted slogans such as ``End discrimination against non-regular workers'' and ``We denounce forced dispersion.''
The police also hauled away five officials from the progressive Democratic Labor Party who had joined the sit-in protest along with the striking workers.
Unionists and labor groups made it clear that they would continue their struggle until their demands are met.
``There were no previous cases in which police were used as many as two times in cases of individual labor-management problems. We can never solve the situation without negotiations. Management should come to the negotiating table first,'' said Choi Ho-sup, an official of the labor union at the New Core discount store.
Meanwhile, an extended dispute with management left thousands of striking unionists at four Yonsei Severance hospitals locked out, Tuesday.
The workers were banned from entering the main hospital in the Shinchon district of Seoul and hospital officials reported the lockout to the Labor Ministry, saying the workers' protests have caused serious inconvenience to patients.
The operation of hospitals, two in Seoul and another two in the suburbs of the capital, were relying on skeleton staff with the strike continuing for its 22nd day.
About 2,000 union members have been on a sit-in strike in the lobby of the Shinchon hospital, demanding that non-regular employees who worked for more than a year be given regular worker status, nursing grades be raised, and the number of wards with multiple patients increased. Doctors are not members of the union.
The management has refused to accept the demands. Meanwhile, the union said they would request the court to nullify management's lockout from the workplace, saying it was unjust.