By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A Seoul district court ruled Friday in favor of non-permanent workers at Koscom who have fought for the promotion of their job status to permanent. In the ruling, the court acknowledged the ``employee status'' of 66 workers who filed a suit against the company, demanding they should be confirmed as its workers.
The workers, originally employed at an engineering unit of Koscom, had been dispatched to Koscom. They staged a strike, demanding that Koscom acknowledge their employment status and change their job status to permanent.
However, as the ruling only acknowledges the employee status of the temporary workers, it does not necessarily mean that the company is obliged to elevate their job status.
On top of Koscom, a number of other firms have been in dispute over casual workers. Most firms remain reluctant to promote the job status of such workers and instead failed to renew employment contracts.
As a means to block firms from firing these contract workers, the government is considering lengthening the period after which management is required to promote them to permanent job status. Under the current law, companies have to change the job status of employees on contracts to permanent status after two years. The government is considering making it three years.
However, labor unions are protesting the scheme, claiming the measure will only lead to more unstable job status.
The law, which took effect in July last year, was designed to guarantee better opportunities for workers and prevent discrimination against them in wage and working conditions.
However, in reality many companies refrained from renewing their contracts to avoid the extra financial burden on them if the workers became permanent.
According to the National Statistical Office, the number of contract workers at companies having 100-299 employees was 400,000 in March, a decrease of 86,000 from a year before. The ministry analyzed that it is because companies fired those non-permanent workers after two years.
Relevant authorities, including labor, strategy and finance, and knowledge and economy ministries, are discussing ways to improve the law, so that the law can really protect non-permanent employees.
The government is considering increasing the limit of the period using temporary workers from two years to three or more. The new rule will likely be applicable to companies with less than 100 workers from next July, but the government is considering delaying the implementation. ``Those measures can be a realistic way to reduce dismissal of contact workers,'' an official from the Strategy and Finance Ministry said.
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry has already recommended the government increase the two-year limit to four years.
``The problems cannot be solved by revising a few articles of the law, and needs comprehensive review. We'll collect opinions from both the business and labor sectors in the latter half of this year to come up with practical measures protecting contract workers,'' Park Hwa-jin, a labor ministry official said.
The ministry showed a different opinion from the strategy and finance ministry over the decrease in the number of temporary jobs. ``The decrease resulted from economic difficulty. But it is true that many companies say that in this slump, they will not give non-permanent workers regular status but just leave the positions vacant,'' Park said.
The labor sector, however, strongly protested the move, saying the measures will make temporary workers' employment more unstable.
``Extending the period means that companies can take advantage of the cheap labor pool of contract workers for a longer period. We need a more realistic system for such workers,'' said Yoo Jung-yup, a director of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions.
Kim Eun-gi, a staff member of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said the new rules will only favor employers. ``The new rule, if implemented, will only facilitate the management's pursuit of profit at the sacrifice of non-permanent workers,'' he said.