 Workers eat lunch during a sit-in protest in a building of Hongik University in Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-soon |
By Han Sang-hee
More than 30 janitors and cleaning ladies in their 50s and 60s have been holding a sit-in protest in the main building of Hongik University in Seoul for four days since Monday morning, demanding the school withdraw the collective termination of their employment contracts.
Despite freezing weather, they have been eating and sleeping on the cold floor of the Munheon Building on the campus. The first floor of the building was full of workers Wednesday; some chatting with one another and others preparing for another long, cold night.
Many were busy preparing meals for everyone, while others were worried about their family back home.
“I worked at Hongik University for five years, and some have been here even longer, and the school told us to leave without any advance notice,” said Seo Bok-deok, 57, who was making coffee for fellow workers sitting on mats covering the cold concrete floors.
“I do wish we could have negotiations with the school, but they have not said anything,” she added.
Structural problems
The seeds of dispute were sown when 170 janitors, cleaners and guards of the school formed a labor union on Dec. 1 and demanded higher wages and better working conditions.
They were not directly hired by the school but were working for the school through contracts signed with two labor-supply companies. At the call for higher wages, the service companies asked the school to reflect their demand on contracts between the companies and school.
However, the school refused to sign the contracts, and the labor-supplying companies in turn informed the workers of the termination of contracts on Dec. 31.
The workers said they have been working, receiving hourly wages of 4,120 won, which is lower than the minimum legal wage of 4,320 won, and the school wanted them to extend the contract under the same conditions.
School officials refused to talk to reporters. They have maintained the position that the workers are not the party with which the school should talk with, as they were not directly hired by it.
Non-permanent workers
The conflict at the university is the latest in a series of labor disputes involving temporary workers. From top conglomerates and small mom-and-pop businesses, a growing number of employers are relying on these temporary workers as they can hire them at far lower wages.
The dispute at Hongik University reflects that the problem of non-regular workers is developing into a social issue that encompasses all generations from the youth to the elderly, analysts said.
According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), many schools have gone through such disputes with workers’ unions over the past couple of years.
Some 90 workers at Dongguk University were sacked after the school switched to a different service company, but it agreed to rehire them after they held days of demonstrations and sit-ins in December.
“The problem is that the universities usually avoid negotiations, claiming they are not the direct employers. The only way to solve this is to have them realize that the school is actually in charge of hiring and employing workers,” said Ryu Nam-mi, a policy director from the Preparation Committee for KCTU.
The student council at the school expressed their stance Thursday, saying that it in principle supports the workers who were fighting for their rights. It claimed that it was a matter to be solved between the school, workers and the contractors, indicating that the labor umbrella group should not meddle in the case.
Earlier the student council issued a statement that criticized the workers for their alliance with the militant KCTU in their struggle against the school, claiming that such protests could negatively affect the school’s reputation.
Most of the workers at Hongik worked 50 hours per week, receiving a monthly wage of 750,000 won plus 300 won for lunch a day.
When asked what she hoped for her and her fellow workers, Seo’s voice shook a bit, both from the cold and disappointment.
“There’s nothing complicated about it. We have received nothing prior to the layoffs. What more can we want? We just want our jobs back,” she said.
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