National Human Rights Commission of Korea expresses its deepest concern over the dire working condition of janitors which infringes upon human rights and dignity of them and urges the government to devise measures to guarantee a decent working condition.
Janitors should be provided with an appropriate resting hours and facilities to rest, eat and sleep as they are often work for a long period of time and have a night duty. However, it is reported that some janitors working in an apartment in Seoul have to sleep and eat in a squat toilet because the size of janitor’s room was too small, which shocked the entire country. In addition, a security guard who was found dead in a different apartment was reported to have a meal in a toilet as well and exposed to a dire working condition.
National Human Rights Commission of Korea continued to make efforts to enhance dire working condition of janitors and other aged workers. Such efforts include a survey on human rights condition of an working area where most of workers are elderly and a survey on human rights situation of the aged workers engaged in surveillance or intermittent work. Based on the result of surveys NHRCK recommended to the government to explicitly indicate methods of payment and compensation for additional work when writing out employment contract.
Upon receiving the recommendation, the government replied with its plan to conduct a fact-finding research for workers engaged in surveillance or intermittent work and have consultation with relevant stakeholders to provide a guideline on measures to reasonably operate inclusive wage system, usage of resting hours, performance of additional work, and guarantee of sleeping and resting facilities. However, as seen from recent cases, despite societal call for improvement of working condition of janitors after a janitor burned himself to death in October, 2014, they are still surrounded by dire working condition.
Taking these into consideration, NHRCK calls for the government to strengthen monitoring and supervision to guarantee a decent working condition for janitors and to carry out a fact-finding research to find out whether janitors are receiving unfavorable treatment due to their call for improvement of working condition and rise in minimum wage.
In addition, in some local governing bodies, the Decree on the Management of Apartment Houses includes a provision on enhancement of working condition of janitors and article 65.6 of the Multi-Family Housing Management Act prescribes that residents and management bodies have a duty to provide appropriate wage to workers including janitors and to make efforts to enhance their working conditions and respect their human rights.
Hence, NHRCK calls for local governing bodies, residents, and managing bodies to pay particular attention and make efforts for enhancement of human rights situation of janitors. NHRCK will continue to make efforts to create a social consensus on and identify measures for improvement of dire human rights situation of janitors.
