Metal Workers' Union: "Hanwha Affiliates Must Apologize and Compensate for Discrimination Against Union Members in Performance Reviews and Promotions"

Members of the Korean Metal Workers' Union called on Hanwha affiliates to accept the outcome of the retrial on remand concerning discrimination against union members in performance evaluations and promotions, and to take steps to remedy the harm.

The Gyeongnam Branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union and the Hanwha Changwon Branch held a press conference at the provincial government press center on November 2, calling on the companies to "humbly accept the outcome of the retrial on remand, immediately rectify discrimination in performance evaluations and promotions, and compensate union members for lost wages."

According to the union, on October 29, the Daejeon High Court, in a retrial on remand in a lawsuit filed by the Korean Metal Workers' Union and 87 of its members against the National Labor Relations Commission seeking to overturn its decision on a request for remedies for unfair labor practices, dismissed appeals by the commission and Hanwha Group and upheld the first-instance ruling that overturned the commission's decision.

The union had previously sought remedies from the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission in 2019, alleging that Hanwha had committed unfair labor practices by giving union members low performance ratings from 2015 to 2018 to discourage union activities, then using those ratings in promotion reviews to disadvantage them. The request was denied.

The Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission determined that the three-month period for filing a request for remedies had expired. After the Central Labor Relations Commission reached the same conclusion, the union filed a lawsuit.

The Daejeon District Court, which heard the case at first instance, found the regional commission's decision unlawful and overturned the Central Labor Relations Commission's decision to dismiss the case. The ruling was reversed on appeal, but the Supreme Court later quashed that decision and remanded the case to the Daejeon High Court.

The Gyeongnam Branch of the Korean Metal Workers' Union is holding a press conference on the outcome of the retrial after remand concerning discrimination in performance evaluations and promotions against union members at Hanwha affiliates. [Photo by Lee Seryeong]

At the press conference, the union said, "This retrial on remand has clearly recognized that the company's discrimination against union members in performance evaluations and promotions disadvantaged them and constituted an unfair labor practice in the form of control over and interference with the union."

It also said, "The company has sought to induce members to leave the union and discourage union activities by deliberately giving them low performance ratings, blocking their promotions, and excluding them from key duties. After more than seven years of litigation, the case has now concluded with the final ruling on remand following the Supreme Court's involvement."

The union added, "The company must stop dragging this out with pointless litigation, acknowledge its illegal unfair labor practices, and take comprehensive steps to prevent them from happening again."

Kim Duhyun, a lawyer at the Gyeongnam Office of the Korean Metal Workers' Union Legal Center, said, "The performance evaluation and promotion discrimination has been recognized for 87 union members for the period from 2015 to 2018 alone, and the number would exceed 100 if subsequent years were included. Some people have been with the company for more than 10 years but are still ordinary employees and have not even been promoted to assistant manager. Their annual salaries can differ from those of their peers by as much as 20 million won. If we calculate the wages they have lost because they were not promoted, the amount would likely be tens of millions of won per person."

Union members said, "Even now, when the personnel review period approaches, union members bring in resignation forms. Some come back to rejoin, but others leave the union for good," adding, "We don't know whether unfair labor practices related to personnel decisions are still happening."

Kim Myeonggi, head of the Hanwha Changwon Branch, said, "Isn't making workers spend time and money on a lawsuit after committing unfair labor practices an attempt to weaken the union? Our membership has fallen from around 1,300 to 600." He added, "I hope the company will end the legal dispute, offer a sincere apology, and establish measures to prevent a recurrence, so that it can become a company that grows."

At the press conference, the union called for an apology for discriminating against Korean Metal Workers' Union members in performance evaluations and promotions; full restoration of the harm caused; compensation for lost wages resulting from deliberately low performance ratings and exclusion from promotions; disciplinary action against those responsible for the unfair labor practices; and abolition of the current performance evaluation system.

The union also called on the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission and the Central Labor Relations Commission to apologize for rejecting the request for remedies on the grounds that the filing period had expired, and to pledge to apply the law strictly in cases of unfair labor practices.

In response, Hanwha said, "We respect the court's decision." It explained, "The four cases filed this time were brought by the union in different years. The court reached different conclusions after comprehensively reviewing the evaluation criteria and promotion statistics for each year."

"In particular, no discrimination was found in the 2021 and 2022 performance evaluations or in promotions in 2023," it said, adding, "However, we take seriously the points raised by the court. We will carefully review the ruling before deciding on our next steps."

It added, "The company and the union will continue working together to further improve the fairness and transparency of the evaluation system."

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