#A Construction Company has paid a total of 3.8 billion won in the name of monthly wages over 697 times to 44 tower crane pilots at 18 sites over the past 4 years.
#B construction company was forced to pay full-time from 10 unions in October 2021, and paid 15.47 million won per month for 1 million won to 2 million won per union.
#C construction company was forced to pay a development fund if they did not hire or respond to this from a union from October 2021 to February 2022. In the end, the construction company provided 3 million won as a development fund instead of hiring union members in March 2022.
As a result of the fact-finding survey on illegal activities at construction sites conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for about two weeks, 2070 cases of illegal acts, such as extortion of monthly wages, were reported at 1489 sites nationwide.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 19th the results of a survey conducted by 12 construction-related organizations, including the Korea Construction Association, the Korea Housing Association, and the Korea Professional Construction Association.
Construction sites where illegal activities occurred accounted for 45.6% (681 places) in the metropolitan area and 34.9% (521 places) in the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam areas. 80% of reports of illegal activities were concentrated in the two regions.
By type of illegal activity, requests for monthly wages accounted for more than half at 58.7% (1,215 cases). Cases of forcing union members to pay full-time wages followed with 27.4% (567 cases), followed by forced use of equipment with 3.3% (68 cases).
118 companies that submitted damages responded that they had suffered damages of 168.6 billion won over the past three years. As little as 6 million won and as much as 5 billion won in damage occurred in one company.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs explained that this is the result of counting damages only for companies with evidence such as account payment details, excluding the company’s own estimate, and that most of the tower crane monthly wages and forced labor union fees accounted for the majority.
329 construction sites responded that there was a delay in construction due to illegal activities at the construction site, and it was investigated that the delay ranged from at least two days to as long as 120 days.
At the apartment construction site of D Construction, construction was delayed for one month because four construction unions interfered with the work by controlling the access of foreign workers.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was scheduled to conduct an investigation into the illegal act by the 13th of this month, but said that the report continued.
Accordingly, starting next week, each association will create an anonymous bulletin board to receive online reports. It was decided to check the contents of the report in detail and request an investigation into cases in which the facts of the damage were specified.
In addition, in the case of construction sites that have recently suffered damage and are still under construction, intensive inspections are conducted by utilizing regional consultative bodies organized by five regional land management offices, local police agencies, branch offices of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and regional offices of the Fair Trade Commission. .
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong said, “In the meantime, private construction companies have been helplessly dragged into illegal activities by construction unions, and have not even reported to the police for fear of reprisal.” .
Then, he said, “I ask private construction companies to actively report so that the construction site is no longer left unattended as a lawless zone by the union.”
Related damage reports can be made to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (☎1577-8221) or the National Police Agency (☎112).
Inquiries: Construction Industry Division, Construction Policy Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport 044-201-4990
