"Worked for 12 Years but Treated as a Newcomer Again"… The Desperate Cry of a Janitor

Gangnam-gu Office Cleaning Zones Adjusted to 7
Workers Return After Finding Jobs at Other Companies
Bonuses and Annual Leave Removed in New Hires
150 Protesters Demand "Job Security Guarantee"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-gi] "I still don't know what happened to me. It feels like I'm having a bad dream."

Kim Seong-cheol (59, pseudonym), who works as a sanitation worker in Gangnam-gu, is experiencing an unusually cold winter. The Lunar New Year holiday, when families gather, is just around the corner, but his worries outweigh his joy. Last month, Kim lost his job of 12 years and became a "new employee" again. This was because Gangnam-gu Office changed the method of alley cleaning and household waste outsourcing from this year to 2022, which altered Kim’s workplace where he used to drive waste transport trucks.

On the 22nd, about 150 sanitation workers wearing fluorescent yellow jackets gathered in front of Gangnam-gu Office in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Wearing red headbands as well, they were determined. They occupied one lane from Gangnam-gu Office to Posco Intersection and held a street protest, shouting, "We worked our bones off, guarantee job succession!"

The sanitation workers’ collective action that day stemmed from Gangnam-gu Office’s decision at the end of last year to reduce the number of management zones from eight to seven during the bidding process for cleaning service contractors and to adjust the contractors responsible for each zone. The zone where Kim worked was transferred to another contractor, and the company A, to which Kim belonged, processed his resignation due to the change in management zones. The contractor that took over Kim’s zone refused to hire him, saying they did not need a transport truck driver, so Kim had no choice but to rejoin company A. Although it was the company he had worked for 12 years, he was treated as a new employee, losing his previously paid long-term service allowance, bonuses, and annual leave. Kim expressed his frustration, saying, "Only the sanitation workers who have worked for a long time suffered tragedy in the management zone adjustment decided by Gangnam-gu Office and the contractors."

The situation of other sanitation workers who attended the rally was similar. About 300 sanitation workers, including laborers and drivers, work in the Gangnam-gu area, but about 50 changed companies due to the zone changes. Since each contractor has a different wage system and does not recognize previous work experience, wages and treatment worsened. Fortunately, even sanitation workers whose companies did not change faced increased workloads due to zone changes, leading to strong opposition. One sanitation worker said, "In the process of adjusting cleaning management zones, the opinions of field workers who have accumulated decades of know-how were excluded," adding, "When the staff who were in charge of the previous zones changed, work handling became unskilled, increasing complaints related to cleaning, and there are difficulties in work due to a shortage of personnel and equipment." The Seoul Regional Facilities Environment Management Branch of the Public Transport Union criticized, "Gangnam-gu Office is ignoring field workers and conducting desk administration without considering the field situation," and said, "They must take responsibility for this situation."

The union held negotiations with Gangnam-gu Office and the civil servants’ union on the 16th but failed to narrow the gap in positions. A Gangnam-gu Office official said, "In the regular audit by Seoul City in March last year, we were instructed to adjust the existing eight zones to seven," adding, "Changes in treatment such as long-term service allowances are matters to be decided by mutual agreement between labor and management, so the office has no way to intervene."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.