Female cabin attendants on Korea's high speed train are engaged in a sit-in at the Seoul offices of the rail company. When the rail union ended its strike on March 4, these women continued at it alone while demanding to become regular employees. Of the attendants on the country's railways, they are the only ones who are "irregular workers." They work for an entirely separate company and are contracted out to work on the high speed rail.
These women are facing two obstacles to normal employment in that they are working on contract and then are dispatched from one company to another, and so they show you what the two problems are with labor practices in Korea. They started in their jobs in 2004 believing they would be working in service jobs on a train that symbolizes the latest technology, and say that the reality turned out to be entirely different. There are not enough of them, so they are unable to take so much as their menstruation holidays. What's more, after their first year their contracts were renewed without any complications, but at the end of 2005 the company they officially work for looked like it wanted to renew contracts selectively. It was then that they started to take action.
The rail company has taken a hard line in response. When the attendants started objecting it gave the business to a subsidiary and said it would have them hired as regular employees at there. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), however, once recommended that the company be liquidated. The rail company says the affiliate is now doing well and will not be liquidated, but the attendants know what it is like to be unilaterally informed of dismissal and to have to change companies, so they are not taking the company on its word.
As the increasing number of irregular workers becomes a social problem, the government and public agencies are finding themselves subjected to a lot of criticism about the improper hiring of irregulars. The rail company is not justified in saying it needs to hire these attendants as irregular workers because of the need for "flexibility." If the main goal is low pay, then it is even inconsistent with the policy on irregular workers put forth by the government and ruling party. It needs to hire them directly and make them full employees.
The Hankyoreh, 11 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Female Rail Attendants Need Regular Jobs |
