hankyoreh

Aug. 10. 1

By Jeon Jong-hwi, staff reporter

After Hyundai Motor and the irregular worker chapter for the Asan and Jeonju factories reached an agreement about newly hiring for chapter members on Aug. 18, the Jeonju irregular worker chapter voted in favor of the agreement during a general assembly of union members held on Aug. 19. The battle over illegal dispatch work at Hyundai Motor, which has dragged on for 11 years, is entering a new phase.

The new hires were made without recognizing the workers’ experience and without paying them back wages.

On the surface, it appears that a breakthrough has been reached. However, there is plenty of room for disagreement, considering that the agreement signed by the two sides is fundamentally different from what the in-house subcontract workers have been asking Hyundai Motor all this time: to acknowledge its use of illegal dispatch labor and to convert irregular workers to regular workers.

Since Hyundai Motor is the world’s fifth largest automobile manufacturer, the dispute about illegal dispatch labor that is occurring there has been regarded as a touchstone for addressing the problem in South Korean society as a whole. Illegal dispatching has been a major issue since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

The section about new hiring gets to the heart of this agreement. This measure is completely different from converting dispatch workers to regular workers, which is what the in-house subcontract workers at Hyundai Motor have been calling for. By asking to be converted to regular workers, they are asking Hyundai Motor to admit that it used illegal dispatch labor under the guise of in-house subcontracting.

This is the main reason that subcontractor workers at Hyundai Motor formed a chapter in 2003 and have carried on their struggle for 11 years, even as hundreds of them have been dismissed and arrested. If they are converted to regular workers, they will not only gain job security, but they will also be paid the difference between the wages of regular workers and the lower wages they have been receiving.

On the other hand, if these subcontract workers become regular workers through a new hiring, they will lose the evidence to hold the company responsible for its use of illegal dispatch labor, and they will also forfeit compensation for the wage discrimination that they suffered. All that Hyundai Motor - the prime contractor - is agreeing to do is give priority to subcontractor union members when it hires regular workers. This is also the main reason why the irregular worker chapter at Ulsan - the largest of Hyundai Motor’s three factories - boycotted the agreement.

Hyundai Motor and the two irregular worker union chapters had urgent reasons of their own to accept the agreement despite its shortcomings. Both sides are feeling the heat in a lawsuit brought by 1,569 members of the irregular worker chapter against Hyundai Motor on which the district court is expected to rule on Aug. 21 or 22. In the lawsuit, chapter members are asking the court to recognize their status as employees of Hyundai Motor.

Even if chapter members win the lawsuit, it is obvious that Hyundai Motor will keep appealing until the case reaches the Supreme Court, and union members seem to have decided that they cannot afford to continue their struggle for the four or five years this would take. Along with this, if some of the union members in the suit win and the rest lose, there is also a risk that it could lead to strife inside the union.

If, on the other hand, Hyundai Motor loses the lawsuit, it would find itself saddled with a considerable burden. The biggest issue is that, if the court finds the company guilty of using illegal dispatch labor on a massive scale, the company will find itself buried under an avalanche of public condemnation.

This is also why both labor and management have promised to withdraw all of their criminal and civil lawsuits. According to the agreement, all labor unions that agree to a new round of hiring at Hyundai Motor have to withdraw their lawsuit after the district court makes its decision.

The compromise also allows Hyundai Motor to reduce its financial burden. If the workers abandon their lawsuit demanding recognition of their status as employees, the company will save around 280 billion won (US$274.57 million). This is the money it would have to pay in back wages if it converted irregular workers to regular workers, according to estimates by the Ulsan irregular workers chapter.

The agreement is expected to have a considerable effect on other companies with ongoing disputes about the illegal use of dispatch labor. Conflict is already appearing inside the irregular workers chapter at Hyundai Motor. “This agreement is chock-full of sections where Hyundai Motor is trying to gain absolution for its illegal dispatching. Our chapter will continue its struggle against these efforts,” the Ulsan chapter said in a statement.

Many labor advocates are criticizing the decision, saying that the irregular worker chapters abandoned their principles at the last minute to find a compromise with the company. These advocates are concerned that the lower court’s verdict on the workers’ lawsuit, which is scheduled to be made on Aug. 21 or 22, could be delayed. They are also worried that this could have a negative effect on a similar lawsuit filed by 1,004 subcontractors at Samsung Electronics Service.

“Our fears have been realized. The issue of illegal dispatch labor at Hyundai Motor was a bellwether with implications for resolving the issue of illegal dispatch labor in South Korean society as a whole. In this agreement, it appears that some of the irregular worker chapters have capitulated to the combined front of the regular worker union and company management,” said Cho Don-mun, professor at the Catholic University of Korea.

This development is provoking criticism of the Hyundai Motor regular workers’ union. The union chapter has been focused on maintaining the positions of regular workers, letting the company bring in subcontract workers to meet around 16% of its total manpower needs since the early 2000s and refusing to allow members of the Hyundai Motor irregular workers chapter to join the official union.

Criticism is also being leveled at the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, which was not part of these negotiations even though it had negotiating rights as the industry union, and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the labor coalition of which the irregular workers chapter is a part.

“The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions does not have any strategy or guidelines about the issues of indirect employment and irregular workers. As is shown by the fact that the Korea Employers’ Federation took part in the negotiations with the Samsung Electronics Service chapter, the business sector is taking action to support the shared interests of capitalists. But we are seeing that labor groups do not have a strategy for struggling against illegal dispatch at individual workplaces,” said Cho.

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