"Leading 30 Major Construction Companies Unite to 'Fully Take Responsibility' for Normalizing Construction Sites"

by Roh Kyungjo

Published 11 Apr.2023 13:00(KST)

#. Hyundai Engineering & Construction employs substitute workers at a cost to comply with the 52-hour workweek when additional tower crane operations are needed during early mornings, nights, or weekends. They designate bases only at sites with demand and deploy additional operators; currently, 8 personnel are assigned across 6 bases. Hwang Jun-ha, Hyundai Engineering & Construction's Chief Safety Officer (CSO), stated, "We plan to increase this number to 17 in the future."

Kim Sang-su, President of the Korea Construction Association (center front row), and representatives from 30 construction companies are reading a resolution for the normalization of construction sites on the 11th at the Construction Hall in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Noh Kyung-jo

On the 11th, 30 major domestic construction companies gathered in one place to "normalize construction sites." Kim Sang-soo, Chairman of the Korea Construction Association, and construction company officials held a resolution rally at the Construction Hall in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, expressing the prime contractors' commitment to promptly normalize construction sites.

This was in response to the government cracking down on illegal activities by construction unions and urging prime contractors to actively work toward establishing the rule of law at construction sites.

Earlier, on the 8th of last month, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong criticized at the "Testimony Rally on Illegal and Unfair Practices at Construction Sites" held at the Specialized Construction Hall in Dongjak-gu, saying, "Prime contractors need to get their act together. They pass all the hardships onto subcontractors, so what kind of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management is that?" He urged that prime contractors must take responsibility before the government steps in.

In the resolution statement, Chairman Kim said, "Until now, there were limits to individually responding to the massive group known as the construction union, but the situation is changing now," adding, "Due to the government's strong and continuous efforts, illegal activities by the union have significantly decreased. Now is the golden time to eradicate them."

He continued, "We will fulfill the responsibilities of prime contractors by actively reporting illegal activities of the construction union to the government and actively participating in problem-solving," emphasizing, "The government must consistently enforce laws to firmly establish the current situation and further legislate measures to eradicate illegal activities promptly."

The association also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Tower Crane Cooperative to ensure the proper supply of tower crane operators. This is a contingency plan to deploy substitute operators upon requests from construction companies or tower crane rental companies when operator vacancies occur at construction sites. The association collects applications from qualified tower crane operators to build and manage a talent pool, while the cooperative receives the pool and provides basic training to improve proficiency, supplying operators to sites.

Chairman Kim said, "The construction industry has suffered from work disruptions and harassment due to illegal activities by the construction union over the past several decades," adding, "This resolution rally will serve as an opportunity to establish a sound labor-management culture at construction sites."