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No more ‘inherited job’

The evil practice of “hereditary employment” remains entrenched in many workplaces here while young people struggle to find jobs. The Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted a survey of 1,057 collective labor agreements at companies with 100 employees or more and found that 63 agreements had a clause for “preferential and special recruitment.”

Of them, 58 had a clause making it possible to hire the immediate family members of retirees and long-term employees. The remaining five had a clause enabling labor unions and employees to recommend job seekers. Most notable is that 68.3 percent of these collective agreements belonged to companies affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which largely consists of big companies. This situation suggests that a number of unionized workers at large firms have been able to pass on their privileged status to their children.

Preferential and special hiring clearly goes against the Framework Act on Employment Policy, banning discrimination of any kind in employment, and results in taking away opportunities from other people who could have been hired. The biggest problem is that the practice has never been rectified despite government efforts. In 2018, Hyundai Motor and 14 other big businesses were discovered to have a hereditary employment provision in their collective agreements. But nothing has changed.

The labor ministry said it would issue a corrective order again and vowed to take judicial measures against those not complying with the order. But it’s doubtful if the deep-rooted custom of inherited employment can be uprooted, considering that the maximum fine for companies failing to honor the corrective order is only 5 million won ($3,831) — just a slap on the wrist. The maximum fine has not changed from the amount when the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act was enacted in 1997. It is imperative to raise the maximum fine to the point where companies cannot help following the ministry’s order.

Opinion

en-kr

2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://ktimes.pressreader.com/article/281818582606403

The Korea Times Co.