[Editorial] Solutions to Prevent Mass Dismissals of Non-Regular Workers Needed

Starting July 1, the “three laws on protecting non-regular workers” take effect. The laws ban discrimination against part-time workers and require companies to turn part-timers to regular workers if they continue to work for over two years. The Ministry of Labor presented “guidelines on bans on discrimination against non-regular workers,” which will be applied in a staged manner according to the sizes of companies, only to meet with criticism from both management and labor.

Salaries of non-regulars are 64 percent of the amount regular workers are paid. When welfare benefits and insurances are factored in, part-timers’ working conditions become much poorer. A whopping 37 percent of the workforce is “second class employees” who are discriminated against while doing the same jobs as permanent workers. However, sympathy for them only aggravates the matter. Though the guideline of turning non-regulars to regulars after two years of working is to be applied from July 2009, businesses are reluctant to employ casual workers. It’s unreasonable to expect companies to hire regular workers at a time when they turn their back on non-regulars constantly. Some public companies and municipal organizations have already begun dismissing casual workers.

Big companies confessed that they had no choice but to boot out part-time workers before they have worked for two years in order to keep competitiveness. The laws intended to protect non-regulars are, on the contrary, pushing them out the door. When asked in a survey what is the most important aspect to them, 59 percent of part-timers participating in the survey answered, “Job security.” 66 percent of them said they are most afraid of being kicked out from the companies they work for when the laws come into force. Under the circumstances, it is contradictory that the Korean Federation of Trade Unions, which knows the details of what’s going on, is opposing the laws, saying, “The laws lack the means to root out discrimination.”

With high wages and near-lifetime employment weighing down businesses, the only way for them to survive is to cut labor costs by employing part-time workers. Unless there is a compromise from labor unions made up of permanent workers, who are considered to be the cause of problem involving non-regulars, in reality it will be difficult to eliminate discrimination against casual workers. To resolve the issue smoothly, companies should be given more leeway in dismissing regular workers. If not, companies will avoid not only hiring regulars but also avoid turning part-timers into regulars. The nation needs a solution that will save businesses, employees and the economy at the same time.