Watchdog advises legislation for minority workers’ rights

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea advised the labor ministry and National Assembly, Monday, to come up with a law to protect the rights of minority workers in education, transport and sales occupations.

This is in line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s drive to improve working conditions for irregular workers.

According to government data for 2016, there are around 484,000 to 494,000 minority workers in nine occupations including golf club caddies, home-study teachers, deliverymen, chauffeur service drivers and sellers of insurance, loans and credit cards.

However, it is estimated there are many more of these workers, according to data from rights watchdogs, which state there are around 1 million to 2 million workers in as many as 40 occupations.

These workers are categorized as “self-employed workers” but they are in a similar position as employees in that they provide labor for business owners, live off wages provided by them and are in a disadvantageous position in drawing up contracts in relation to the business owner for whom they provide labor.

However, because they are categorized as running their own businesses, they have not been protected by labor laws in circumstances such as unilateral changes or canceling of contracts by the business owner, or forced provision of labor not stated on the contract. For many of the positions, occupational health and safety insurance does not apply.

In an effort to improve these poor working conditions, workers in these fields attempted to set up labor unions, but they faced disadvantages such as canceling of contracts by business owners.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights state that all persons have the right to draw up and join labor unions in order to protect their interests.

The International Labor Organization also advises the protection of minority workers’ right to collective organization.

Countries such as the U.K., Germany and Canada have introduced terms such as “dependent contractor” in their laws to protect the rights of these workers.

In France, the law was recently revised to guarantee the labor rights of freelance workers on digital platforms.

In Korea, because there are no legal grounds that protect the rights of these workers, they need to file individual lawsuits to be recognized for them to get involved in labor union activities.

So far, the court has only recognized golf course caddies.