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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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 Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:32 pm Post subject: Strange ending to a story, or is it? You decide. |
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/12/117_56894.html
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By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A labor union comprised of native English teachers working for a language institute or "hagwon" has been established in Incheon, a legal expert on labor representing them said Tuesday.
This is the second teachers' union, said Jung Bong-soo. The first one was established in 2005 in Gangam, southern Seoul, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Jung said five native English teachers at a private language institute in Incheon were given approval to establish the union by a ward office on Nov. 24.
The union, headed by Lloye Evan from Australia, has nine members, he said. Native English teachers belonging to the institute are eligible to join, he added. The union head was unable to be immediately reached for comment.
A pattern of "unlawful" behavior by the employer - unpaid overtime and threats of dismissal - drove them to unionize, Jung said.
The five founding members decided to set up the union after the employer forced them to work 40 hours per week rather than 30 hours stipulated in their contract.
"Under the contract, the employer is supposed to pay an overtime rate of 15,000 won per hour. But the employer paid nothing," Jung told The Korea Times in a phone interview. "In response to complaints about the unpaid overtime, the employer even verbally threatened to fire one of the five, who was a woman."
They visited Jung's office, KangNam Labor Law Firm, in southern Seoul in early September for consultations, leading to an investigation by a state labor inspector.
"The inspector acknowledged the teachers were forced to work additional hours without proper compensation and ordered the employer to pay," he said.
That ruling, however, was not good enough for them because their relations with the employer turned sour with one of the five being laid off. The dismissed teacher plans to file a petition with the Ministry of Labor for her reinstatement.
"The other teachers involved in the dispute also fear similar retaliatory action," Jung noted.
The expert refused to identify the language institute in question to protect the unionized teachers from further retaliation.
Yoo Mi-young, the labor inspector in charge of the case, said: "The number of petitions of this kind brought up by native English teachers here is on the increase."
Ahn Kyu-seok, a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service, said: "Their activities aimed at protecting and boosting their right as legitimate employees will be guaranteed by law, but any activities with political purposes will be prohibited as stipulated in the Immigration Law."
A total of 22,905 foreign nationals are here on E-2 English teaching visas as of Oct. 31 this year, according to the Ministry of Justice. Of them, 134 overstayed their visa, the ministry said. |
Interesting article, up until the end, where I have bold the sentence. Why would the author of the article throw something like that in there? It is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. Could it be that they had to throw something negative in there in light of the positive outcome? Is this common in Korean writing, in other words, to add irrelevant facts to a story/essay? |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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Leave off with a NEGATIVE impression of foreigners? The Korean Times newspaper? No way they'd do that on purpose. Must be an accident.
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| "That ruling, however, was not good enough for them because their relations with the employer turned sour with one of the five being laid off. The dismissed teacher plans to file a petition with the Ministry of Labor for her reinstatement." |
The reporter seems to have a negative attitude but the news sources for the story are all positive. |
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seoulsucker
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| When I read transparent tags like this, I keep imagining J. Jonah Jameson as the editor-in-cheif of the KT. |
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