By Jun Ji-hye
Some 3,000 Korean employees working at U.S. military bases in Korea held a mass rally in Yongsan, central Seoul, Saturday, to protest possible layoffs following the planned relocation of American forces to Pyeongtaek, southern Gyeonggi Province, next year.
They argued that the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) is moving to reduce the number of Korean personnel or replace full-time workers with part-time ones as it relocates the USFK headquarters and the Eighth U.S. Army headquarters in Yongsan Garrison as well as the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID), north of Seoul, to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.
The USFK Korean Employees Union said that the rally held in front of the War Memorial of Korea, adjacent to the USFK headquarters, was the biggest-ever gathering of Korean employees since American troops were stationed here following the 1950-53 Korean War.
The union claimed that management in charge of commissaries said it planned to cut its workforce by 50 percent and use part-time workers.
The USFK’s Community Bank also plans to replace 50 percent of its full-time workers with part-timers from July 1, the union said.
“Some 3,000 Korean employees are expected to be laid off,” the union said. “The USFK should immediately stop this.”
Korea and the U.S. previously signed two major relocation plans ― the Yongsan Relocation Plan (YRP) and the Land Partnership Plan (LPP). The YRP is to relocate the U.S. Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul including USFK headquarters and Eighth Army headquarters to Pyeongtaek, while the LPP will consolidate 2ID from north of Seoul to Pyeongtaek.
The union claimed that the USFK is moving to lay off Korean personnel although it has already secured expenses for Korean employees up to 2018 when Seoul and Washington renewed the Special Measure Agreement (SMA) on sharing the financial burden of keeping U.S. troops in 2014.
Under the renewed SMA, which will apply until 2018, Seoul has been paying about 1 trillion won ($847 million) every year.
There has yet to be an official announcement from the USFK about its plan to reassign or reduce Korean personnel after the relocation of the U.S. forces is completed by 2017.
However, USFK Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks said that Korean employees are and will remain an integral part of its workforce.
“We are fully committed to taking care of our civilian workforce, just like they’ve taken care of us,” Gen. Brooks said Friday. “Our dedicated employees are an integral part of our team and contribute greatly to the strength and continued success of our alliance. As such, we remain committed to an open dialogue throughout this entire transformation process.”
The USFK stressed that its senior leadership is engaged in a series of town hall meetings on a monthly basis to share information with all of its employees, including plans for relocation of Korean employees.
“Employees with questions are encouraged to attend the town halls as well as ask their supervisors about their organization’s transformation plan,” the USFK said in a press release.
But an official from the union downplayed the statement.
“USFK has said the same thing for a past decade, but it has reduced Korean staff and recruited them again in accordance with its budget situation,” the official said.