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Just nine days after protesters at discount outlets of E-Land Group were brought to a halt by police intervention, members of the union launched a sit-in at New Core outlet in Seocho, Seoul, on July 29. Unionists plan to continue the demonstration indefinitely until their demands are met, as management calls for an end to the sit-in and a resumption of negotiations.

Approximately 500 unionists belonging to E-Land, New Core and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the nation’s two umbrella labor organizations, occupied the outlet by blocking cash desks with carts at 2:10 a.m. Before the demonstration, they had stationed themselves at New Core’s Kim’s Club to prepare for the action. Some 200 customers and workers in the outlet were evacuated without any incidents or clashes reported.

“After the protesters were dispersed by police, the management has not responded to our demand for negotiations. We had to go on strike again,” Lee Mi-ae, one of union leaders, said. “We will continue the strike indefinitely until the decision to outsource New Core cashiers is scrapped and our demand for removal of discrimination against non-regular workers is met.”

The labor union claims that the chances of negotiating a settlement on the labor dispute appear dim as some of their key leaders remain behind bars. Following a police crackdown that brought the strike to a halt in mid-July, E-Land management sued the union’s leaders and demanded that the union pay for damages inflicted by the demonstration.

The union attempted to resume talks six days later, but as both sides failed to iron out their differences on the details, including where and when the negotiations should be held, the talks were not re-started.

Now, with the dispute reignited by the recent sit-in, the company has stated in a press release, “The labor unions of New Core and E-Land Group sent a proposal at 0:10 a.m. on July 29 asking for negotiations. But two hours later, they occupied the New Core outlet. We want talks to start immediately after the unions stop the strike.”

Meanwhile, around 1,200 police officers were deployed around the New Core outlet, preventing additional unionists from entering the demonstration site. But there has been no plan to send riot police into the outlet to disperse demonstrators, Seocho Police said.

Unionized workers at E-Land began striking at the end of last month, after management laid-off approximately 900 non-regular workers, most of whom are female cashiers, in advance of the new non-regular workers’ protection law, which went into effect on July 1. The law was designed to protect non-regular workers by granting them regular status after they have worked for a company for two years. However, controversy around the potential benefits and drawbacks of the law has already incited fierce debate between companies, who claim that the law will effect an increase in their expenses, and unions, who claim that the law has already been abused by companies outsourcing their workers and insist that all workers be protected.

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