Court sides with subcontracted worker in Hyundai Motor case

Posted on : 2011-02-11 15:06 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Hyundai will appeal to the Supreme Court, which is expected to confirm the High Court’s decision
 Feb. 10. (Photo by Shin So-young)
Feb. 10. (Photo by Shin So-young)

Song Gyung-hwa and Jeon Jong-hwi 

  

Seoul High Court ruled Thursday that an in-house subcontractor dispatched to Hyundai Motor more than two years before must be regarded as a full-time worker directly employed by the company.

The court’s third administrative division, under Judge Lee Dae-gyeong, ruled Thursday in favor of Choe Byeong-seung, 35, who was fired from the design line at Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan plant after working there for more than two years as a subcontracting worker. The trial was the rehearing of a suit filed by Choe against the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), requesting cancellation of a retrial verdict on restitution for improper firing and improper labor actions.

In its ruling, the court said that Choe “carried out his duties mixed in with regular workers on either side on the conveyor belt, and Hyundai Motor made decisions regarding their workload, methods, sequence, etc.”

“As he was dispatched to Hyundai Motor and employed by Hyundai Motor for more than two years, it is the court’s view that [Hyundai Motor] employed him directly,” the court added.

Choe, who went to work at his subcontracting company on March 13, 2002, and worked alongside more than 100 other Hyundai Motor in-house subcontractors at the Ulsan plant, requested restitution for improper dismissal from the NLRC following his firing on Feb. 2, 2005. When his request was not accepted, he filed suit. While the rulings at the first and second trial went against him, the Supreme Court overturned the original ruling in July 2010, stating that Choe’s case “should be viewed as direct employment,” and sent the case back to Seoul High Court.

In November 2010, Seoul High Court produced a ruling confirming the employment status of in-house subcontractors in a similar lawsuit filed against Hyundai Motor by in-house subcontractors who had worked for more than two years in the chassis and engine factory and service line at the company’s Asan plant. The Supreme Court is currently hearing this case.

At the time of its ruling, the court ruled that Hyundai Motor must directly hire in-house subcontractors on not only its main line, but also its chassis, engine and sublines if they have worked for reached two years of employment, and should categorize them as dispatched labor. The court also rejected Hyundai Motor’s request to recommend a constitutionality ruling on the former Worker Dispatching Act. Hyundai Motor submitted a constitutional appeal to the Constitutional Court, and the hearing is currently under way.

The legal battle between labor and management is expected to continue with other cases. In November, around 1,941 subcontracting workers filed an 18-item collective lawsuit against Hyundai Motor requesting recognition of their regular worker status and payment of differential wages. This case is currently pending in its first trial. Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor filed 15 suits requesting damages amounting to 16.2 billion Won ($14.4 million) from workers at its Ulsan, Asan, and Jeonju plants who occupied the plants in a demand for recognition of their regular worker status.

Following the sentence Thursday, Hyundai Motor said that it would appeal to the Supreme Court and file a Constitutional petition. Given that the Supreme Court previously ruled to overturn the previous verdict on the case, however, there is a strong likelihood that the verdict will be confirmed.

Following the court ruling, members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union and its Hyundai Motor irregular workers’ chapter held a press conference in front of the Hyundai Motor main office in Seoul’s Yangjae neighborhood. “Hyundai Motor needs to take this verdict as an occasion for converting all of its in-house subcontractors into regular workers,” the members urged.

Meeting with the Hankyoreh at an Ulsan restaurant Thursday, Choe said the verdict was “meaningful in that it recognized that the party who improperly dismissed me was not the subcontracting company but Hyundai Motor.”

At the same time, Choe said, “It is still unfortunate that, as with the previous Supreme Court ruling, they still failed to acknowledge Hyundai Motor’s implicit labor relations with subcontracting workers.”

Choe is currently wanted by the police. His name was placed on their list of wanted suspects on Dec. 8 for leading the strike and occupation of Hyundai Motor‘s Ulsan No. 1 factory by in-house subcontractors in November. The charges against him include obstruction of operations and violation of the Assembly and Demonstration Act, charges that have been used as trump cards in the government’s efforts to choke off labor activity. His meeting with the Hankyoreh took place in secrecy to avoid the police.

At a representatives’ meeting Monday evening, the KMWU Hyundai Motor irregular workers’ chapter voted to hold a second strike. Chapter head Lee Sang-su raised the level of the struggle by commencing a hunger strike at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Jogye Temple in Seoul’s Jongno District.

“It is only Hyundai Motor saying that the strike ended last year,” Choe said.

“We never declared an end to the strike,” he added, indicating that the strike continues even though the occupation has ended.

In particular, Choe grumbled about outside views painting the ruling as an issue of one individual alone.

“The ruling should also be [binding] for workers on the same line at the same plant,” Choe said. “The company’s perspective is a deliberate attempt to downplay the significance of the verdict.”

Hyundai Motor mobilized employees Thursday morning to raid the irregular workers’ chapter and evict Deputy Secretary General Lee Eun-young, a hired employee, for being present in the plant without company permission.

Choe said, “Personally, I am happy about this ruling. But in the process of getting a Supreme Court ruling, over 100 people were fired and one person died. Another twenty were arrested. Seventeen people at the Ulsan plant are still wanted despite the Seoul High Court ruling. It is a tragic situation. We call this a society? Why does business refuse to reflect on its own errors that have been ruled illegal by the courts?”

If Choe is arrested by police and found guilty, he will be pinning a third “star” on his jacket, following a sentence to eighteen months in prison suspended for two years last October for a clash with police during a tent occupation at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. This has become the reality in the Republic of Korea, where labor activism is impossible without earning one’s stars.

  

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