hankyoreh

There is a media war going on, and things are heating up. After the government moved to end sit-in strikes by the unionized workers of E.Land Group, E.Land’s union and management are locked in a very public battle as they try to make their respective cases. E.Land’s management is trying to explain its logic to the general public, while the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), an umbrella union, and other civil groups have launched a campaign to boycott products at E.Land stores nationwide and asked for an investigation into allegations that E.Land raised funds illegally in its drive to acquire stores formerly owned by Carrefour.

The labor unrest started on June 30 after E.Land sacked some 900 part-time workers as part of what it is now labeling as its restructuring drive. Union members claim that the move was actually an offensive move against the new non-regular workers protection law, which went into effect on July 1. The law states that companies must convert their non-regular workers to regular status after they have worked for a company for a period of two years and gives companies a two-year grace period in which to accomplish this task. Meanwhile, companies around the nation have taken different approaches to meeting the new requirements, with some firing workers and outsourcing jobs while others, such as Woori Bank and Korea Exchange Bank, have granted regular status to their non-regular employees. Though companies assert that the new law could result in additional expenses, the government claims it was designed to protect non-regular workers.

On July 23, E.Land sent a letter, dubbed “An Appeal to the General Public,” to its employees and encouraged each person to deliver the letter to 100 other people via e-mail, blog or Internet cafe. In the letter, the management claimed that the livelihoods of some 300,000 E.Land-affiliated employees, including 15,000 employees and 110,000 subcontracted workers and their families, were being threatened by belligerent unionists and that outsiders were encouraging unionists to prolong the dispute with management.

The letter from E.Land said, “There were some workers whose contracts weren’t renewed. But there was no mass lay off.” E.Land also argued that its move to replace cashiers with outsourced workers was not, as union members have claimed, an avoidance of the new law protecting non-regular workers, but a step toward increasing the efficiency of cashiers.

In response, Lee Seok-haeng, head of the KCTU, said in a press conference on the same day, “We will launch a campaign to force E.Land to post ‘zero sales’ over the next month.” The KCTU plans to launch protests and a consumer boycott of merchandise at E.Land stores across the nation between July 23 and 29.

In addition, the KCTU has asked the Fair Trade Commission to thoroughly investigate allegations that E.Land may have illegally raised funds in its bid to acquire 32 local stores from Carrefour for some 1.7 trillion won (US$2 billion) last year. At the time of the acquisition, E.Land’s assets were just valued at about 200 billion won.

Meanwhile, the government has failed to provide any countermeasures for resolution of the dispute. In an interview with the local media, Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo said, “I doubt whether a consumer boycott by a third party will lead to a settlement of the labor unrest at E.Land,” referring to participation by the umbrella KCTU. Lee had no new suggestions, but reiterated that E.Land’s management and the union should resolve the dispute through voluntary negotiations.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]