Will Protests Continue at Seoul Autonomous District Corporations? 'Leaving Empty-Handed'

Yangcheon Cultural Foundation Illegal Protest at Old District Office on the 13th, Police Detain... 2022-2023 Seoul District Office Facility Corporation and Another Corporation in 2021 Occupied District Mayor's Office for 50 Days... Ultimately Left Empty-Handed

Illegal protests by public enterprises under the jurisdiction of Seoul's autonomous districts continue, but they are not gaining much support.

The labor unions of cultural foundations and facility corporations under Seoul's autonomous districts have been staging illegal protests by occupying district offices after failing to reach an agreement during wage increase negotiations with the executive branch.

However, the autonomous districts of Seoul have been responding strongly to these illegal protests, resulting in repeated cases of 'empty-handed withdrawal.'

Yangcheon-gu (District Mayor Lee Gi-jae) firmly responded by immediately reporting to the police and detaining protesters when about 160 members of the Yangcheon Cultural Foundation labor union illegally occupied the district office on the afternoon of the 13th, demanding improved working conditions.

Yangcheon-gu established the Yangcheon Cultural Foundation in 2019 to promote cultural arts in the local community and enhance cultural welfare for residents, entrusting the efficient operation of the district library and Yangcheon Cultural Center to the foundation.

The cultural foundation and the labor union have been engaged in collective bargaining since the end of last year but failed to reach an agreement. Subsequently, following the union's application for mediation to the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission, two mediation meetings were held, but due to sharp disagreements between labor and management, the mediation committee ultimately decided to suspend mediation.

As a result, the union, having acquired the right to strike, was supposed to negotiate with the management, the cultural foundation, but instead requested meetings with the district mayor and engaged in labor disputes, attempting several times to enter the district office.

In particular, on the 13th, the union used the pretext of meeting the district mayor to illegally occupy the district office, paralyzing even the district office's functions for resident services.

In response, the district office reported the illegal protest to the police and detained those involved.

Last year, labor union members of a facility corporation under a Seoul A district also staged illegal protests in the district mayor's office and the first-floor civil service office but eventually withdrew without achieving any results.

Notably, union members protested for several months in front of the district mayor's office, and there was even an incident where a district mayor was pushed while leaving the office and had to be hospitalized.

Later, they held a tent protest next to the district office yard but failed to produce significant results and dismantled it.

Another public corporation under Seoul B autonomous district occupied the corridor in front of the district mayor's office for about 50 days in 2021, forcing the district mayor to work from another office.

They demanded extensions of retirement age and conversion of non-regular workers to regular positions, but the district office did not accept these demands and responded on principle.

Despite the excessive illegal occupation protests by labor unions of institutions under Seoul's autonomous districts, they have not seen significant effects.

A Seoul autonomous district official criticized, “The issues that should be resolved through negotiations within the corporation were excessively protested against the district mayor by the labor unions of subordinate institutions, but they gained nothing.”