The National Human Rights Commission of Korea Recommends LG Dacom to Rectify Discrimination against Irregular Workers.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recommended recently that collective agreement provisions on those exclusively engaged in union activities to both unionized regular and irregular contract workers, along with provision of union member education time be granted to all members of labor unions. This recommendation comes as a response to a complaint filed in May 2006 against LG Dacom, which was accused of excluding irregular workers in union activity provisions.
The complainants, 34-year-old “Park” and 312 other unionized irregular workers at LG Dacom, filed a complaint with the Commission stating, “The company, in applying its collective agreement, does not apply provisions on union activities (i.e. scope of union members, union activities during working hours, workers engaging in union activities on an exclusive basis, training hours for union members, etc.) to unionized contractual workers on the mere grounds that they are not regular workers; sets wage increase rates for regular and contractual workers differently and unfavorably to the latter based on performance evaluation, and dismisses only a unionized contractual worker if both a unionized regular worker and a unionized contractual worker are rated "D" in performance assessment; does not grant contractual workers various allowances and fringe benefits including family allowances, winter allowances, homecoming allowances, sick leaves, disaster compensation, comprehensive medical checkups, leaves of absence and pay for employees on leave, severance pay, disaster aid, tuition reimbursements for employees' education, housing loans, reimbursements for expenses for employees' funerals, longterm service leaves, and inclusion of leaves of absence in the total period of service; and categorizes contractual workers' duties into six grades without any objective rationale and determines the minimum and maximum annual compensation for each grade, limiting the wages of unionized contractual workers to said maximum annual salary even if they gain a high score in
performance evaluation and work for the company for a long time.” Through investigation, the Commission confirmed the following in regard to the filed complaint:
<Provision on Guarantee of Union Activities>
The Commission determined that LG Dacom failed to guarantee exclusive union activities to unionized contractual workers, while acknowledging such activities for unionized regular workers without objection. This type of action is deemed discriminatory, as (i) the collective agreement explicitly guarantees exclusive union officers and the labor union is accordingly entitled to decide who will work for the union on a full-time basis, and (ii) there is no reason justifying differential treatment of unionized regular and contractual workers as regards exclusive union officers. Concerning training hours for union members, the LG Dacom guarantees eight hours in total for unionized regular workers, including two hours of training during the intensive company training that generates a strong educational effect. However, the company does not grant the two hours of training during the intensive company training to unionized contractual workers.
<Allowances and Fringe Benefits Including Family Allowances>
The Commission also deems not paying allowances or benefits to unionized contractual workers or paying them to those workers in a manner different from that applicable to unionized regular workers without justifiable cause as discriminatory, even if such allowances or benefits are generously paid or provided as part of employee benefits regardless of the quality and quantity of work. In addition, the Commission believes that even if a collective agreement had been concluded by labor-management consent, it is discriminatory act to treat unionized contractual workers less favorably than unionized regular workers without justifiable cause, honoring the principle of “liberty of contract.” the Commission deemed that the limitations regarding benefits to contractual workers due to the nature of a definitive contractual employment agreement as reasonable, differential treatment.
The Commission concluded that LG Dacom’s refusal without justifiable cause to grant family allowances, sick leaves, and comprehensive medical checkups to unionized contractual workers; to reimburse funeral expenses in the event of their death; and to apply a long-term service leave scheme to them despite satisfaction of applicable standards as discriminatory acts. Accordingly, the Commission recommended that the collective agreement provisions on union activities be applied to contractual workers. It also recommended that those workers be granted family allowances, sick leave privileges, and comprehensive medical checkups, and that reimbursements for funeral expenses be paid to families in the event of death. Furthermore, the recommendation stated that the long-term service be applied to these workers upon satisfaction of applicable criteria, and that irregular workers be paid the same winter allowances and homecoming allowances as unionized regular workers.
The respondents, LG Telecom, replied that the existing collective agreement had been applicable to unionized regular workers only and that a new collective agreement would be concluded with contractual workers who joined the labor union at a later date, by special collective bargaining.
After such additional collective bargaining, the company signed the “2007 labor-management collective agreement for contractual workers” on July 27, 2007. As a result, a substantial part of the complaint was resolved, including the issue of union activities during working hours.
As for the remaining issues not addressed in the agreement including family allowances, the company contended that there was justifiable rationale for differential payment to contractual and regular workers given the nature of their different employment arrangements, duties, and service periods, to which the Commission has questioned in the recommendation issued.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001, offering investigation and remedy services for Korean citizens and foreigners residing in Korea against human rights violations and discrimination. The Commission provides policy recommendations and remedial action against human rights infringements, collaborates with international human rights organizations and implements educational programs to improve the human rights culture.
