Busan National University announced Thursday that it has let go 70 contract lecturers that have been teaching at the university for over two years. This was the first instance of a national university firing contract lecturers who have worked over two years using the Irregular Worker Protection Law. The now jobless lecturers are protesting loudly that they have been let go unjustly.

Busan National University’s announcement, which comes just before the start of the second or fall semester, stated that 70 contract lecturers who have lectured over five hours a semester for more than four semesters continuously and who lack doctorates would not have their contracts renewed. The university says that if they were to allow them to continue lecturing, the school would have to grant them permanent contracts in accordance with the Irregular Worker Protection Law. The school said it was greatly concerned that if this were to happen, it would reduce the opportunities for doctorate holders to lecture and lead to a decrease in the university’s quality of education.

In response, Yu Yun-yeong, the head of the Busan National University branch of the Korea Irregular Professors Union, argued that lecturers who are entitled to permanent contracts in accordance with the Irregular Worker Protection Law are required to have lectured for more than 15 hours per week for over two years, but there were almost no such lecturers in Korea. In spite of this, he said, the school laid off lecturers who taught over five hours a semester, based on a 2003 ruling by Seoul High Court that one hour of university lecturing is equal to three hours of labor. He said that misusing a law to protect irregular workers as a means to fire contract lecturers in order to exclude the possibility of turning them into regular professors violates the contract lecturers’ right to livelihood, as well as their human rights and teacher’s authority.

The union held a press conference in front of Busan National University’s main hall in the afternoon, demanding a withdrawal of the firings and an apology for violating the students’ right to enroll in classes.

The firing of contract lecturers in relation to the Irregular Worker Protection Law is also taking place in private universities. On Aug 12, Korea University fired 88 contract lecturers who had lectured for more than four semesters, lacked doctorates, and were under the age of 55. An official from Korea University’s academic affairs department stated that the lecturers were fired because if the school gave classes to lecturers who had taught for over two years, the school would then be forced to convert them to regular lecturers under the Irregular Worker Protection Law that went into effect starting in July.

Similarly, SungKongHoe University let go eight contract lecturers in May, using the same standards as Korea University. A SungKongHoe University academic affairs department official said that the school did not renew their contracts in an effort to prevent controversy as the Irregular Worker Protection Law went into effect. Yeungnam University moved to fire about 100 contract lecturers on Aug 22, but due to protests from university staff, switched to a plan to cut their class hours to under five a week in the second semester.

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