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UNI asks Korean gov. to refrain from police action and support agreement to reinstate fired shop workers



E.Land strike is well into its third week, but Korean retail giant does not give up on mass dismissals

As negotiations between management and the E.Land workers' trade union continue, the Korean government is adding to the pressure on the striking workers. From what has been leaking out from the negotiations in Seoul, it seems that the authorities are still reluctant to put real pressure on the company to respect fair labour practices, the new law on protecting non-regular workers, and the collective agreement that it took over when buying Carrefour's Korean subsidiary.

UNI calls for government to refrain from police action and to seek fair solution

The young women who continue to fight for their jobs inside the two E.Land stores in the Korean capital are threatened with riot police intervention unless a negotiated settlement is found today. UNI has today contacted the Korean Labour Minister, urging him to make sure that the authorities refrain from police action and asking them instead to give their full support to efforts to resolve the labour crisis through continued negotiations.

E.Land's mass dismissals of its part-time supermarket and department store cashiers and sales personnel has drawn widespread condemnation in Korea. The company, which has just completed a huge corporate take-over by buying Carrefour's Korean subsidiary for some 1.5 Billion USD, refuses to comply with the collective agreement that it inherited from the French retail multinational and which is legally binding for the new owners. Instead, they have dismissed over 1,000 low paid 'non-regular' workers, to avoid having to give them permanent employment contracts.

Workers had no choice but to take to strike action

It is absolutely clear that these workers had no other choice than to take the dramatic action of in-house picketing at the Homever, New Core Outlet and Kim's Club stores. There is no doubt about what the alternative would have been, they would all have lost their jobs and the means of supporting their families.

One would expect the E.Land management to understand that they should now pull back and cancel the mass dismissals, before their reputation is tarnished beyond repair, both in Korea and in the outside world.

And the only thing these workers have demanded is to keep their jobs.

For more stories and pictures on the E.Land workers' struggle, go to the dedicated UNI Commerce webpage:

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