Koreans' jobs at US bases in jeopardy
A Korean employee at the main gate of Camp Red Cloud, a U.S. military base in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, stages a one-man protest, Sunday, demanding job security for all Korean workers there after the base is relocated to Pyeongtaek. / Yonhap
By Rachel Lee
Thousands of Korean employees at two U.S. military bases in Korea are facing massive layoffs because of the planned relocation of the camps.
Under a plan signed between Korea and the U.S., the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) headquarters and 8th Army headquarters, located in Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul and the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID), north of Seoul, will be moved to Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army garrison in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
About 5,000 Koreans are working at the military bases.
There is a growing fear that at least half of the jobs of Korean employees might be on the line, but there has been no explanation from the U.S. military regarding its plans to cut jobs or reassign personnel, arousing anxiety among the workers, the USFK Korean Employees Union said Sunday.
On Thursday, the labor union began a one-person protest at Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, scheduled to last for nine days, and will hold a rally against the layoffs at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan on May 21.
“We will fight to protect our jobs,” a labor union official said.
The restructuring process, followed by the camp repositioning, will include the combining of several departments together, leading to mass job cuts as a result, the union said.
“Let’s say two camps have 10 workers each for the cleaning department, and when the two join together, a shake-out takes place,” the official said. “Looking at cases of integration in the past, only 12 workers out of 20 are likely to keep their jobs and the rest will either be sacked or transferred to totally irrelevant departments.”
He also said that Camp Humphreys has apparently been recruiting Korean employees ahead of the relocation, which reduces even further the number of available posts for existing staffers, he added.
The U.S. military has not said anything regarding the issue because of its own employment regulations that apply to its local staff working at the bases.
According to those rules, the employer is required to give the employees six-month advance notices of changes including termination of contract and reassignment.
The union said six months is too short a time to find another job since most of the workers at the USFK bases are middle-aged with children to raise.
The relocation of the USFK headquarters was initially due for completion by 2016, but this will be delayed until 2017 due to an unexpected setback caused by bankruptcy of Keangnam Enterprises, a Korean construction company, according to the USFK Base Relocation Office at the Ministry of National Defense.
Camp Humphreys, which is currently under construction, will be transformed into a gigantic base that will be three times larger than before and equipped with up-to-date facilities.
The base will accommodate approximately 42,000 soldiers and their families upon completion.