With 24-hour shifts and residents’ abuse, security guards grin and bear it

Posted on : 2014-10-26 11:59 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Security guards receive less than minimum wage and are worried about layoffs with across-the-board wage increase coming soon

“Just leave it in the security office.”

It’s something every apartment dweller has said when a delivery person calls. But processing deliveries isn‘t actually one of the apartment security guard’s official duties. Now many of those guards - the same ones who have been parking cars, sorting trash, and receiving packages for residents - are worried about possible mass layoffs ahead of next year’s planned introduction of an across-the-board minimum wage system.

Back in August, Mr. Hwang, a 66-year-old security officer at an apartment complex in Seoul’s Nowon District, received a document from the head of the security team. The paper read “employment contract,” but there was something strange: the contract period was just five months, from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31 of this year. In the past, apartment security guards have typically signed new contracts each year.

“I asked the chief why it was a five-month contract, and all he said was ‘I don’t know,‘” Hwang recalled. “The head of the apartment management office had told us, ‘Salaries are going up a lot next year, so make sure to work hard,’ and I figured it might have something to do with that.”

For security workers, it can be hard to distinguish between working hours and “waiting hours.” Because of the “intermittent” nature of the work, they currently receive just 90% of the legal minimum wage. They also fall outside the protections of the Labor Standards Act, which limits long working hours.

But the workers themselves said anyone who believes their work is “intermittent” doesn’t know the real story. Indeed, an actual list of round-the-clock duties for the workers shows specified jobs for practically every hour of the day. Hwang, for example, starts cleaning as soon as he arrives for work at 6 am. He sweeps up around his designated block and cleans the tennis court. At around 11:30, he has to sort the deliveries as they start pouring in. In the afternoon, he rakes and bags leaves. During the summer monsoon season, he has to go through the rooftop catch basins by hand to remove anything that might clog them. At around 7 pm, more deliveries start coming in. Between 11 pm and 4 am, workers rotate one-hour patrol rounds. Officially, they are entitled to an unpaid one-hour break and 30 minutes between noon and 5 pm. But because residents might show up at any moment, they can’t actually leave the office.

Mr. Lee, 58, has been a security guard at an apartment in Seoul’s Gangnam district since January. His activities are also dictated by the schedule. His duties, which run 24 hours every other day, start with parking management. At 10 am, he starts cleaning; even when he’s working on something else, he is back helping residents park their cars.

“I have a wooden board that I sleep on in a security office measuring just over 3.3 square meters,” he explained. “I can’t even use a comforter when I sleep. There was a directive from the management office about how ‘the residents can see us.’”

In September, the Wonjin Institute for Occupational and Environment Health (WIOEH) conducted a month-long study of the working environment for 152 apartment security guards. Averaging 66.2 years in age, they spent as much of their hours cleaning (22.6%) and processing deliveries (20.5%) as they did doing their official duties of crime prevention and safety checks (22.1%). A total of 69.4% also reported being subjected to abusive language from residents or visitors in the past year. Verbal abuse from a resident was believed to have been a reason behind a recent incident at a Gangnam apartment where a security guard attempted suicide by self-immolation.

But the workers also said the uncertain nature of the employment means they have to grin and bear it. Officially, they are employed by an employment agency, but their direct work orders really come from the residents.

“Even when residents ask for ridiculous things or harass me, the director of the management office won’t listen to what I have to say,” said Mr. Yoon, a 53-year-old security guard at “S” apartment building in Gangnam. “He just said, ‘Treat them like the CEO.’”

Mr. Park, a 56-year-old worker at the same complex, said the security guards are ineligible for worker’s compensation if they get hurt on the job.

“In fact, we’re 100% responsible if there’s an accident when we’re moving vehicles because the parked cars are crowded,” Park said. “I set aside 100,000 won (US$94.70) out of my salary every month as savings just in case an accident happens.”

An emergency debate on improving working conditions for apartment security guards took place on Oct. 20 at the National Assembly. One of the attendees, WIOEH research fellow Han In-im, said she plans to “ask the National Assembly to amend the law to protect security guards who are doing ‘emotional labor’ between customers and managers.”

Kim Soo-yeong, an attorney with the Gong Gam Human Rights Law Foundation, said the hottest issue at apartment complex right now is the across-the-board minimum wage system.

“Security guards, manpower agencies, residents, and the government must come together and find a fundamental solution to avoid mass layoffs,” Kim said.

 

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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

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