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| A banner hangs in the street near the office of the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), Thursday, calling on IIAC President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan to step down over the recent controversy surrounding the company's decision to directly hire subcontracted security workers. / Courtesy of union of Incheon International Airport Corp. |
By Jun Ji-hye
Employees of state-owned companies are keeping a close watch on their employers' hiring plans, due to concerns that their companies could be the next to directly hire subcontracted workers after Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) announced its decision to do so.
On June 21, the IIAC announced it would grant regular employment status to 1,902 subcontracted security workers in accordance with President Moon Jae-in's election pledge of "zero irregular jobs" in the public sector.
But the decision has since provoked criticism especially from existing regular workers and young jobseekers who have raised questions of fairness in the hiring process at state-run companies at a time when the nation is experiencing a serious unemployment crisis.
In online communities such as Blind, employees of state-run companies as well as others interested in the issue are voicing a variety of opinions on which firms will be next, and what would be the most appropriate ways to increase regular positions in the public sector.
Blind is a service that enables employees of a company or people working in the same industry to upload instant messages and communicate anonymously.
Blind users mostly mentioned the Korea Airports Corp., which operates 14 airports nationwide except for Incheon, and the Busan Transportation Corp. as possible candidates to follow in the footsteps of the IIAC.
Those who are opposed to the move to grant regular employment status to contract workers wrote messages supporting the union of the IIAC that has staged protests and held news conferences condemning the decision.
"The move is provoking a backlash as it is granting regular employment status to contract workers without fair and proper hiring procedures," one Blind user wrote.
Another user wrote, "We studied so hard to take the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) and the National Competency Standards (NCS) test, and obtain various certificates of qualification to get our jobs. I wonder what contract workers have done."
The NCS test is a standardized written test administered by the government.
The Moon Jae-in administration announced guidelines for the zero irregular jobs initiative in July 2017, presenting a goal to upgrade the employment status of 205,000 irregular workers in the public sector by the end of this year.
Hwang Deok-soon, senior secretary to the President for employment, said the move was aimed at enhancing fairness in the labor market and better protecting irregular workers, noting that it was not about fairness in the hiring process of state-run companies.
Meanwhile, the IIAC's union called on IIAC President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan to step down, Thursday, claiming the company's argument that the union had already agreed with the hiring plan was a lie.
"Koo should take responsibility for spreading false information," the union said in a statement.
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