Four Union Officials Including Those Extorting Money at Construction Sites Arrested

"If demands are not met, a rally will be held" threat

Four individuals, including three labor union organization chiefs and branch chiefs, were arrested for extorting money and obstructing construction sites.

According to the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency on the 16th, Mr. A, the organization chief of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam headquarters of the Korea Federation of Construction Industry Unions under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, embezzled about 200 million won under the pretext of union full-time fees and welfare funds while visiting 22 large apartment construction sites in the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam areas from September 2021 to October 2022.

Mr. B, the branch chief of the National Federation of Construction Unions in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region, extorted about 23 million won while visiting officetel construction sites in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam area from April to November 2021.

Both unions threatened construction companies that if their demands were not met, they would file lawsuits, complaints, and hold rallies, thereby extorting money.

Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

Mr. C, the head of the Pouring Subcommittee of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Construction Branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, along with two others, pressured construction companies and halted construction in apartment areas around Gyeongnam by filing complaints on the grounds that non-union construction machinery was being used.

They obstructed construction by either not deploying union members to the sites or by holding rallies.

The police stated that they arrested these individuals on charges including violation of the Act on the Punishment of Violent Crimes.

The Metropolitan Investigation Unit of the Provincial Police Agency received multiple intelligence reports that members of the three unions were demonstrating union power at large apartment and officetel construction sites in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam area by forcing the hiring of union members, extorting money under the pretext of union full-time fees and welfare funds, and obstructing construction site operations, and began an investigation.

Based on evidence, the investigation unit sequentially questioned union members and arrested four senior officials due to the seriousness of the matter, while continuing to investigate other union members.

The Provincial Police Agency has arrested a total of six union officials, including two previously arrested, out of 166 people related to 78 cases of illegal activities at construction sites, and has applied for arrest warrants for two additional individuals.

The Provincial Police Agency will work to eradicate organized illegal activities at construction sites by the end of June, including ▲ obstruction of work and violence ▲ extortion through organized violence and threats ▲ forced hiring by specific unions or forced use of construction machinery ▲ illegal assemblies and demonstrations ▲ retaliatory acts against whistleblowers.

A representative of the Provincial Police Agency said, “Within the scope of guaranteeing legitimate labor activities, we will strictly deal with organized illegal activities such as extortion and violence at construction sites that undermine social stability and damage the autonomy and fairness of labor-management relations according to law and principles, and eradicate them.”