KTX attendants cry foul at top court

Fired KTX train attendants march from Seoul Station to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, demanding their reinstatement and calling on President Moon Jae-in to resolve their management-labor problem. / Yonhap

Ruling influenced by dirty politics, union leader says

By Lee Suh-yoon

Korea Train Express (KTX) attendants, who were fired, fought and lost a legal battle against Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL), have returned to fight again – this time, against the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling.

They are demanding justice following allegations the top court's former chief justice used the court case to curry favor with the former Park Geun-hye administration. They marched from Seoul Station to Cheong Wa Dae on Monday, calling on President Moon Jae-in to step in to resolve the problem, as he promised in his presidential campaign last year.

Former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae sought to establish another general court of appeals allegedly in exchange for overruling the lower courts' decision to have KORAIL compensate the fired attendants.

"I knew from the beginning it was a politically influenced verdict," Kim Seung-ha, 39, union leader of the fired KTX train attendants, told The Korea Times recently.

On May 29, Kim and her colleagues, wearing blue union vests, rallied inside the Supreme Court calling for face-to-face talks with incumbent Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su.

"We fought against employment fraud. And exhausted by the fight, we left it for the court to decide," Kim shouted in tears, standing in the middle of the Supreme Court hall. "But the Supreme Court colluded with the former administration and trampled on female workers' dreams."

According to an investigative report released last month, the Supreme Court, under former Chief Justice Yang, drafted an internal document with information detailing ways to use high-profile cases including the KTX attendants versus KORAIL as a possible bargaining chip with Cheong Wa Dae.

Incumbent Chief Justice Kim said he will cooperate with external investigations into the Supreme Court.

"I am worried an excessive probe into the judiciary body may affect its independence. But the judiciary cannot be exempt from investigations under the law," the chief justice said in a press statement.

In January 2004, 350 young women were hired as attendants for the bullet train. They were promised permanent public servant status after fulfilling their temporary one-year employment contracts.

Over the next two years, KORAIL directly managed their tasks and wages, but the attendants were given contracts that designated them as temporary workers of a KORAIL subsidiary.

In December 2005, the attendants fought back, demanding KORAIL hire them directly as regular workers. A few months later, 280 of the attendants were fired while on strike. Kim Seung-ha, then 25 years old, was one of them.

Fired KTX train attendants in blue union vests rally inside the Supreme Court, May 29. / Courtesy of Kim Seung-ha

A legal battle ensued. The country's lower courts ruled in favor of the attendants in 2010 and 2011. They ruled KORAIL is their de facto employer and thus is obligated to directly hire and compensate the attendants.

In 2015, however, the Supreme Court overturned this, saying the attendants were valid outsourced workers for KORAIL.

The top court said the KTX attendants' main duty was providing customer service, while KORAIL employees were in charge of safety management. Therefore, it said, the two groups' jobs are distinguishable.

But according to Kim, the attendants' duties overlap with those of KORAIL's managers, as the former also carry out safety-related tasks.

"When a passenger is ill, or when there is a fire, train attendants have to notify the train conductor, the railway control center and the next station for an ambulance," Kim said. "All train attendants – including managers – have to cooperate to handle emergencies."

Legal experts say the Supreme Court's verdict seems "odd," compared to similar cases in the past.

On the same day of the top court's KTX ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hyundai Motor's outsourced employees. It recognized the automotive giant as the de facto employer and ruled the company should directly hire the employees because the outsourced workers carried out the same tasks as Hyundai Motor's employees.

"The KTX verdict deviated significantly from other similar Supreme Court rulings," Lee Yong-woo from Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) said in a column for a local news agency.

The Supreme Court ordered each KTX attendant to pay back 86.4 million won ($80,000) in compensation. Those who could not pay in time were ordered to pay an annual 15 percent interest.

Three weeks after this ruling, a train attendant surnamed Park committed suicide, leaving behind three children.

"That verdict killed my colleague" Kim said. "She had no other reason to commit suicide."

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