The ‘Joint Committee for Resolving Irregular Labor Issues at Yonsei University’ posted a poster to support the struggle of cleaning and security workers on campus. Provided by the Joint Action Committee
[왜냐면] Jisun Yoon | Activists in civic group ‘hand in hand’
Labor-management disputes sometimes take an unexpected turn. This is the case when three Yonsei University students filed a civil and criminal lawsuit against a school cleaning and security worker who held an on-campus assembly, alleging infringement of their right to study. In the lawsuit, the students allege a violation of their right to learn. Watching this process, I was reminded of the injunction lawsuit filed against cleaning workers at Ulsan University of Science and Technology in 2014. At that time, when cleaning workers at Ulsan University of Science and Technology demanded a wage increase, the school corporation, which refused to talk, filed an application for injunction banning these students from sitting on campus. In the course of the trial, petitions from students alleging violations of the right to learn were submitted as evidence. The cleaning workers of Ulsan University of Science and Technology, who could not take legal action properly, were no longer allowed to sit down at the school where they were working. However, the lawsuit did not stop the siege. Eight years have passed since the school refused to talk and eventually fired the workers, and the protests outside the school continue. The reason why Ulsan University of Science and Technology came to mind is not only because of the same cleaning workers’ protests. Because of the wounds left by the lawsuit. Some of the students who participated in the trial after the injunction was decided to ban the sit-down invited the cleaning workers who were unable to enter the school to their graduation ceremony. And apologized to the workers. Ulsan Regional Solidarity Workers’ Union Union Union Leader Kim Soon-ja of Ulsan University of Science and Technology said that the lawsuit only left scars for the students who took part in the lawsuit, the students who watched it, and the cleaning workers. In fact, the school that persecuted the cleaning workers and caused the situation did not take any responsibility. Is the Yonsei University student’s lawsuit different? Although the three students who filed a lawsuit against the cleaning workers are receiving social attention, the ‘joint countermeasure committee’ activities of the students who support the cleaning workers came first. The number of enrolled students who signed a letter of intent to the engineering committee reached 2,600. Nevertheless, perhaps because of the stimulus provided by the ‘hands-off lawsuit’, the confrontation between students and cleaning workers is drawing more attention. In the process, the wounds of students and cleaning workers are deepening, but the school that made the situation worse is silent. The fundamental responsibility for this situation lies with the school, which ignores the basic right to work. The reason Yonsei University cleaners went on a sit-down was simple. According to the minimum wage increase, next year’s hourly wage should be increased by 400 won for cleaning workers and 440 won for security workers. In addition, it is about replenishing the number of people in accordance with the retirement age and installing a shower room. It’s a commonsense request. When the school starts talking, the sit-ups can stop. The three Yonsei students would have chosen to sue to stop the sit-up. However, it is questionable whether it can bring ‘immediate effect’. Recently, there was a judgment against a third party, not the company, for a claim for compensation for the union’s assembly and demonstration. This is a lawsuit filed by the residents of the Iljin Diamond branch over the occupation and demonstration in the lobby of the Iljin headquarters building. 146 employees, including shopping mall employees, claimed that the occupation caused traffic disturbance, anxiety, and disgust, and demanded that the union be compensated for a total of 120 million won, 840,000 won per person. In this case, the court emphasized the ‘limitation of the number of persons accepted’. The limit of tolerance refers to the extent to which the degree of damage can be tolerated when environmental rights are violated, pollution, noise, etc. There is also a limit on the number of ‘freedom of assembly and demonstration’. In May of last year, Judge Gong Seong-bong, the 5th independent civil affairs judge of the Seoul Western District Court ruled that the legal interests and living interests claimed by the plaintiffs had not been violated to the extent that they exceeded the limit. In addition, the headquarters building is a place where the company’s major decisions are made, and the occupation method is also partial, not without permission, so it is difficult to see that there is a problem with the union’s request to conclude a collective agreement. Judging from this ruling, it is difficult to say that the protests of Yonsei University workers have also exceeded the number of people allowed. The responsibility and authority to solve problems rests with the school, so workers can protest inside the school. Moreover, the siege by the cleaning workers did not completely occupy major facilities and did not involve violence and vandalism. There is another point that students who file a lawsuit should note. It’s the litigation period. As a result of analyzing 197 of the lawsuits filed over the past 33 years by ‘Hand in Hand’ (Let’s hold hands! Hold hands), a civic group for resolving workers’ compensation for damages and provisional seizure, the average length of time it takes to a judgment in the first trial The duration of the lawsuit was 26 months. In the case of the resident of the Iljin Building, it took 19 months to be sentenced in the first trial. This means that litigation itself is not an effective means of quickly resolving the matter, regardless of whether the case is won or lost. Neither the students nor the cleaning workers have any reason to endure this lawsuit, which is sure to hurt each other, which will take years. I hope that Yonsei University students will consider dropping the lawsuit.