Union Officials Attempting to Enter Labor Office to Meet Deputy Chief Acquitted

Court: "Doubtful Whether the Building Manager's Actions Were Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Labor union officials who attempted to enter a building without permission to urge an investigation into unfair labor practices were acquitted in the first trial.

On the 17th, Judge Lee Geun-soo of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Southern District Court announced that he had acquitted three officials of the Seoul branch of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union (KPTU), who were tried on charges of trespassing in a shared residence (violation of the Act on the Punishment of Violent Acts, etc.).

The defendants held a rally on April 15 last year in front of the Seoul Southern Branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, demanding employment succession for LG Twin Tower cleaning workers and urging a forced investigation into allegations of LG Group's coercion to withdraw from the union.

After the rally, they were charged without detention for attempting to enter the building by grabbing and shaking a closed door and security shutter while demanding a meeting with the head of the Southern Branch.

The court ruled, "There is no evidence to recognize that the defendants entered the building with any criminal intent or that the work of the Southern Branch would clearly be obstructed," and "This part of the indictment falls under the case of lack of proof of crime."

It added, "The labor office could have allowed a meeting with the branch head by limiting the number of attendees or at least allowed a meeting with labor inspectors, but instead requested police protection of the facility in advance, locked the front door, and lowered the security shutter to block entry," and pointed out, "It is questionable whether such access restriction measures by the building manager were justified."

Furthermore, the court noted that the defendants' act of grabbing and strongly shaking the door was merely a sign of protest against the access restriction and difficult to view as an act of intrusion. It added that broadly recognizing trespassing crimes just because the result was against the building manager's wishes would excessively restrict constitutional freedoms.

However, among the three union officials charged, one was found guilty of damaging public property by repeatedly kicking the lower structure of the security shutter, causing repair costs of about 2 million KRW, and was fined 1 million KRW.

Earlier, LG Twin Tower cleaning workers were notified of contract termination at the end of 2020 after S&I Corporation, an LG building management affiliate, ended its contract with the cleaning service company Jisu INC. S&I Corporation selected a new subcontractor, but this company refused employment succession.

The union claimed, "The reason the cleaning workers were collectively dismissed was because they joined the labor union," and after a roughly four-month sit-in protest at Yeouido LG Twin Tower, they reached an agreement with management and began working at the LG Mapo Building from July 1 last year.

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