Violations and Illegal Practices Surrounding Working Hours and Labor Union Expenses Revealed in Public and Private Institutions

A union member at public institution A filed a lawsuit against institution A, claiming that the wage peak applied to him was invalid. During his work hours, this union member prepared for various lawsuits, including meeting with lawyers, and even attended the trial. Between November of last year and April of this year, a total of 208 hours were spent (8 hours a day, 26 days). However, this union member’s time was recognized as ‘exemption from working hours (time-off).’ Time-off refers to recognition of part of union activity time as working time by agreement between labor and management. Lawsuits against affiliated organizations (companies) are not subject to time-off. Organization A recognized the time the union member who brought the lawsuit personally spent preparing for the trial as working hours and even paid him a salary.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the interim results on the 2nd, saying that illegal matters were discovered in 39 out of 62 inspected workplaces through a planned labor inspection on ‘exemption from working hours and unfair aid to union operating expenses.’ The Ministry of Employment and Labor is investigating whether 200 labor unions are illegal from September to the end of this month. Like Institution A, there were four cases where time-off was applied even though it was not exempt. Public institution B was exempted from the 8-hour strike by its executives. Even though the strike principle is ‘no work, no pay’, wages were paid to the striking executives. There were 29 cases of violation of time-off number and time limits. Organization C’s legal exemption limit is 12,000 hours per year, but it was increased to 13,346 hours through a back-door agreement between labor and management. The original number of people was limited to 12 people, but it was operated with 27 to 28 people.

Meanwhile, Company D, a communications and broadcasting equipment manufacturer, provided the labor union with 170 million won in rent for 10 vehicles, including 1 Genesis, 8 Grandeurs, and 1 Carnival, over the past year. A separate payment of 70 million won for vehicle maintenance costs, including fuel costs, was also provided. Company E, an automobile parts manufacturer, illegally paid 1.04 billion won in operating expenses to the labor union over the past year. Separate position allowances were also given, including 140,000 won per month for branch president, 120,000 won per month for vice president, and 40,000 won per month for delegate. Two vehicles were provided to the union at a cost of 93 million won, and an additional 1.4 million won per month was paid for maintenance costs. Company F, a semiconductor manufacturer, paid 35 million won in wages to office workers selected by the union, and gave the union chairman an additional basic salary of 6 million won per month.

2023-11-02 11:44:08
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