hankyoreh

An irregular worker was kept on staff at Hyundai Motors’ Ulsan plant for 23 months under 16 separate piecemeal contracts before ultimately being let go, it was recently alleged.

In the process, the company established contracts for working periods as short as 13 days. The revelations are drawing criticisms of the world‘s fifth-ranked automaker is encouraging unstable labor practices at a time when the issue of piecemeal contracts is the focus of harsh denunciations.

On Mar. 29, the Hankyoreh acquired a document in which the 25-year-old worker, identified by the surname Park, gave grounds for claiming restitution for improper dismissal. In it, Park describes being employed by Hyundai on the assembly line for the Avante model at the Ulsan plant for the 23 months between Feb. 25, 2013, and Jan. 31, 2015, during which time no fewer than 16 separate labor contracts were drafted. The average contracted period was just 44.1 days. One contract covered a period of just 13 days between July 28 and Aug. 9, 2013.

The issue of piecemeal contracts has been the subject of widespread attention since an incident involving the suicide of an hourly worker who had entered seven separate contracts with the Korea Federation of SMEs over a two-year period. The worker, identified by the surname Kwon, had endured sexual harassment by her boss in the expectation of eventually being hired full-time, but took her own life last year after eventually being fired.

Park’s case at Hyundai involved more than twice as many contracts as Kwon.

Park also claimed instances of being put to work without a contract. A contract for the period between Apr. 1 and late May in 2013 was actually drafted on May 6, roughly a month after he began work. In another case, Park began working in July, while the contract was only drafted on Oct. 1.

Non-contracted work is considered a violation of the Labor Standards Act.

Park also claimed to have reported to work to sign contracts on the official holidays of Jan. 1 and May 1 (Labor Day), 2014, when factory operations were suspended.

“The contracts established between Mr. Park and Hyundai Motors were merely a formality,” said Lee Byeong-hun, an attorney with the labor law firm Chamteo, which is handling Park’s case.

“Mr. Park should be seen as having become a Hyundai Motors worker without a defined working period as of April 2013, when he first worked without a labor contract,” Lee added.

“If that does not happen, then Mr. Park can expect to have his contract extended or renewed, as Hyundai Motors hinted that he would eventually be shifted to full-time employment.”

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and South Korean court have previously recognized that workers have the right to expect a contract renewal even after their existing contract with an employer expires, if legitimate grounds exist for it.

The automaker’s decision to put hourly workers like Park on its production line as short-term contract employees is seen by many as an attempt to avoid charges of illegal dispatch work. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the hiring of in-house subcontracting worker Choe Byeong-seung represented illegal dispatch worker employment. It was in the wake of this decision that Hyundai Motors began converting in-house subcontracting workers employed for less than two years - who would otherwise be candidates for full-time status - to short-term contract positions instead.

Reports put the number of short-term contract workers in production jobs at Hyundai Motors plants at around 3,000, including new hires.

An advertisement for the positions by the automaker suggests working conditions similar to Park’s. “Maximum working periods are set between one and six months,” it reads.

“We do not keep track separately of the overall situation with regard to short-term contract periods,” a Hyundai Motors source said.

Park claims that he was strung along by Hyundai with promises of a regular position while agreeing to 16 separate contracts.

“Before joining the company in Feb. 2013, I was told by a member of the Hyundai Motors human resources team that I could be hired full-time ‘if I worked hard,’” Park told the Hankyoreh in a Mar. 29 telephone interview.

“After I did join, the full-time deputy director said, ‘You could become a regular employee if you do a good job with cleaning and your duties,’” he added. “For 23 months, I wasn’t able to take a single monthly holiday.”

To date, none of Hyundai Motors’ short-term contract employees has reached the two-year mark for conversion to full-time status.

“As of now, there has not been a single case of any of the many workers who have provided services to the employer in this case [Hyundai Motors] after engagement through short-term contracts being converted to full-time status,” the automaker indicated in a Mar. 18 written response to the NLRC’s Busan branch.

In response to charges of adopting an excessively piecemeal approach to contracts, the company said, “Setting long-term contractual periods under circumstances when it is unclear how long demand [for workers] will be present could lead to disruptions in personnel management.”

By Jeon Jong-hwi, staff reporter

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