Supreme Court: "Strike Actions by Dispatched Workers at Prime Contractor's Site Are Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that it is not illegal for subcontractor employees to engage in labor disputes at the primary contractor's workplace.

On the 20th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Sanghwan) confirmed the lower court's ruling that acquitted five individuals, including Kim, an employee of a service company contracted by Korea Water Resources Corporation, who were tried on charges including obstruction of business.

The dispatched workers' union, to which Mr. A and others belonged, went on strike in June 2012 after wage increase negotiations with the dispatch company broke down and labor dispute mediation procedures failed, following a vote among union members.

From June to July 2012, they held sit-ins near the main building of the Korea Water Resources Corporation workplace, which was their actual work site, rather than the dispatch company's site that employed them. They did not comply with the Korea Water Resources Corporation's eviction requests and were also found to have obstructed cleaning duties performed by temporary staff deployed as replacements.

The first trial court pointed out that although the labor dispute was directed at the direct employer, the dispatch company, the actions took place at the Korea Water Resources Corporation site, the contracting company, and thus could not be considered lawful labor actions. Consequently, fines ranging from 1.5 million to 3 million KRW were imposed on the five individuals including Mr. A.

The appellate court overturned the ruling, stating that the contracting company, Korea Water Resources Corporation, cannot be uniformly regarded as unrelated to the labor dispute, and for the same reason, labor actions within the Korea Water Resources Corporation workplace are not all illegal.

The Supreme Court upheld the appellate court's decision and dismissed all appeals. The bench stated, "The contracting company's workplace is the living environment for the subcontractor's employees," and "Strikes or slowdowns by subcontractor employees inevitably occur at the contracting company's workplace."