[비즈한국] Noise has been surrounding the Yongin Environmental Center, a waste treatment facility in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Recently, the managing operator, Samjoong Navis, was found guilty of unfair labor practices by the local labor relations commission for refusing collective bargaining with the labor union. However, the Yongin Environmental Center has been operated by Kolon Global003070 since 2000, and it has been jointly operated with Samjoong Navis since the labor union was formed last year. Consequently, the Yongin Environmental Center labor union is claiming that Kolon Global used Samjoong Navis as a shield to avoid collective bargaining.
Did Kolon Global aim to avoid collective bargaining?
Samjoong Navis is a waste incineration facility management company established by former Samsung Heavy Industries employees in 2001. It had operated the Guri Resource Recovery Facility for the past 22 years, but failed to win the bid again after the contract expired in December 2022, due to allegations that labor costs were not properly utilized. Samjoong Navis continued to operate the Guri Resource Recovery Facility even after the contract ended, but finally withdrew in September this year following legal disputes. Samjoong Navis, which was at a crossroads between survival and closure, made a comeback by jointly taking on the operation of the Yongin Environmental Center for 2024 with Kolon Global.
However, it has been claimed that this joint contracting is actually a trick by Kolon Global to avoid bargaining with the union. An official from the Yongin branch of the National Environmental Labor Union (Yongin Environmental Center Union) claimed, “Kolon Global has operated the Yongin Environmental Center for a long time. Then, a labor union was formed in February 2023, and collective bargaining was initiated. However, they dragged out the negotiations sluggishly starting around October, and without reaching a conclusion, they suddenly bid for a joint contract with Samjoong Navis and stopped negotiations.”
The official said, “Generally, joint contractors hire employees according to their participation ratio, but all employees except for the manager had their employment succeeded by Samjoong Navis. All employees who were previously under Kolon Global were changed to be under Samjoong Navis. When the labor union demanded collective bargaining from Samjoong Navis, they refused, citing a lack of authority. We suspect that Kolon Global is trying to hinder union activities by changing the employees’ affiliation to Samjoong Navis, while actually performing the operations themselves.”
In fact, while Kolon Global and Samjoong Navis split the participation ratio (profit distribution) 4 (Kolon Global) to 6 (Samjoong Navis), the personnel distribution is 1 person from Kolon Global and 62 from Samjoong Navis. Excluding one manager, all 62 employees are affiliated with Samjoong Navis.
Kolon Global has operated the Yongin Environmental Center since 2000 (then Kolon Engineering & Construction). The City of Yongin renewed the contract with Kolon Global every three years until 2020, and from 2021, selected the operator through public bidding. Although the bidding method changed, Kolon Global was selected as the entrusted company in both 2021 and 2024.
A Kolon Global official explained, “Depending on the Yongin City bid notice, we have operated both independently and jointly. Because we are a construction specialist, we employ separate operational specialists. Even when we operate independently, we have done so in a partnership format with operational specialists. In the case of the Yongin Environmental Center, profit distribution is based on the participation ratio, and the operations are handled by Samjoong Navis. Therefore, except for one person (the manager) to transfer know-how, all employees were succeeded by Samjoong Navis.”
Samjoong Navis claims no decision-making power
Ultimately, the labor union filed a request for remedy for unfair labor practices with the Labor Relations Commission against Samjoong Navis. On August 12, the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission (Gyeonggi Labor Commission) ruled that the employer, Samjoong Navis, committed unfair labor practices by refusing collective bargaining. In the written ruling, the labor union stated that Samjoong Navis, which has been operating the Yongin Environmental Center on consignment since January 1, 2024, has been unresponsive to bargaining demands. The labor union claimed, “Samjoong Navis is refusing to bargain without justifiable cause, insisting only on separate bargaining for the Guri Resource Recovery Facility and the Yongin Environmental Center, which it operates on consignment.” Conversely, Samjoong Navis refuted this, saying, “We are currently in negotiations and have never avoided or refused a request for bargaining.”
The Gyeonggi Labor Commission issued a remedy order, stating, “We recognize that Samjoong Navis Co., Ltd.’s response to collective bargaining with the National Environmental Labor Union with an insincere attitude constitutes an unfair labor practice of refusing or stalling collective bargaining.” Samjoong Navis appealed this decision to the National Labor Relations Commission.
Why did Samjoong Navis refuse to negotiate? A Samjoong Navis official explained to Biz Hankook, “The company said to separate the negotiations because the operation of the Guri Resource Recovery Facility was about to end. The labor union misunderstood this and filed a complaint claiming the company is not actively communicating. The company is aggrieved. That is why we applied for a retrial with the National Labor Relations Commission.”
Currently, the contract for the Guri Resource Recovery Facility with Samjoong Navis has ended, and the employees of the facility have had their employment succeeded by a new entrusted company. Even so, another question arises as to why Samjoong Navis did not respond to the bargaining.
The situation at the time could be heard from the side of Rep. Yong Hye-in (Basic Income Party), who visited the Guri Resource Recovery Facility on June 17. An official from the representative's office said, “When we asked why they were not negotiating with the Yongin Environmental Center union during a three-party meeting between Samjoong Navis, the labor union, and the office, Samjoong Navis stated that they had an investor and did not have decision-making power.”
According to the record of the conversation provided by Rep. Yong Hye-in's office, a Samjoong Navis official said at the time, “When we were bidding in the second half of 2022, the survival of the company itself was at risk. An investor appeared and asked us to allow them to do business, and we were allowed to operate using Samjoong Navis. We argued from the beginning that we would not take a single won from that part,” adding, “Since the reality is like this, we cannot dictate things regarding Yongin.” When asked if Samjoong Navis has no decision-making power for the company’s operations, the official only replied, “There is an investor.”
A Yongin City official stated, “We are aware of the fact that Samjoong Navis was recently found guilty of unfair labor practices. However, it is difficult for the city to directly intervene in private consignment workplaces, so we are actively meeting and communicating with the relevant parties. If there are parts that need improvement, they are being improved. We understand that operating costs are shared according to the participation ratio, and we plan to check these parts regularly.”