[Report File] Where the 'King of the Little Kingdom' lives

Nonghyup in 'Gapjil Blind Zone'

SBS reported on Seoganghwa Nonghyup, which sent a single mother to a remote island without an elementary school because she answered the union president.

While investigating this case, I found out that similar things were happening in other local agricultural cooperatives.

I met another employee, C, who said he had been fighting a lonely battle with a local Agricultural Cooperative for a long time.

Mr. C worked at a local agricultural cooperative in Gyeongnam for 30 years from 1990.

But he was fired two years ago.

Unauthorized absence was the reason.

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▶ Local Agricultural Cooperatives, which have become 'Gapjil Blind Spots', which are related to delays and blood ties, why?

(Related 8 news report)

Mr. C complained that it was not an arbitrary truancy.

Mr. C, who started treatment for breast lesions in November 2019, initially received treatment while exhausting his annual leave according to the service regulations.

When he used up his annual leave, he had to take sick leave, and the Agricultural Cooperatives refused to approve the sick leave.

The reason was that Mr. C initially reported that he needed surgery, but didn't actually do it, and that he had doubts about his condition.

Mr. C explained that he was in a non-surgical way because he was unable to perform surgery due to underweight.

However, it was still not approved, and Mr. C, who had to be hospitalized immediately, was eventually admitted to the hospital.

He returned a few days later with a disciplinary dismissal.

"The Real Reason I Was Fired"

The reasons for dismissal suggested by the NACF were many other than unlawful absences.

Personnel intervention, personnel solicitation, dissemination of false information, etc.

However, Mr. C said, "These are all made up reasons for dismissal. The real reason I was fired is different."

Mr. C's argument is as follows.

The origins of the incident date back to October 2019, before receiving treatment.

At that time, the problem of unpaid wages was raised at the local Agricultural Cooperatives.

According to the Ministry of Labor's investigation, overtime pay that has not been paid to employees so far amounted to about 300 million won.

Branch managers, executives, and other executives had Mr. C, who was the deputy general manager, receive a memorandum from the employees.

It was said that he was not entitled to receive overtime pay.

Mr. C has expressed his refusal several times by collecting the opinions of his employees.

However, what he returned to Mr. C, who could not get the consent memorandum, was

"

In the end, the executives interviewed the employees and received the memorandum one by one, and only Mr. C and one other employee honestly expressed their objection to the Ministry of Labor.

And a month later, Mr. C was treated for a breast lesion, and he said that was when the bullying began.

Mr. C said he had to endure the situation after hearing this.

In the end, Mr. C, who was fired, applied for unfair dismissal relief to the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission.

As a result, it was determined that his disciplinary reasons, such as soliciting personnel and providing money, were not recognized.

However, the decision was overturned in the retrial of the Central Labor Relations Commission.

In the end, as the dismissal was recognized, Mr. C is currently continuing the lawsuit for unfair dismissal relief.

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'King of the Little Kingdom'

I contacted the National Office Finance Union.

It was to ask what the working environment was like, where people get fired one after another for being hated by someone.

'The King of the Small Kingdom', Seo Pil-sang, former chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Union, expressed the head of the local Agricultural Cooperatives in this way.

▶ Immediately after the interview "I answered what you said," the island without elementary school was issued...

Farewell to Daughter (Related 8 news reports)

First, the president has both personnel and management rights.

Of course, depending on the size of the assets, the work authority of the president was limited.

If the current asset size is more than KRW 250 billion, it is mandatory to have a non-standing president.

The non-standing union president has the same position as a standing executive, but there are restrictions on management tasks.

There should be a professional manager below that, and that is the standing director.

As the size of the assets is large, this measure was introduced to prevent damage caused by poor management.

A union president in the Gyeongnam region has been in office for 28 years.

If you take root in one area for a long time, of course, wouldn't that authority be bloated?

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According to Assemblyman Yoon Mi-hyang's office, 483 of the 1,115 agricultural and livestock cooperatives have non-standing union heads, or 43%, nearly half.

The Seoganghwa Agricultural Cooperatives, reported earlier, also changed the articles of incorporation four years ago, and a non-standing union president took office.

The president of the union, who separated his mother from his 9-year-old daughter, because he was arrogant, can now serve indefinitely.

as the reason that made the exercise of 'royal authority' possible

.

As of the end of September 2022, there were 59,305 workers in the Agricultural Cooperatives nationwide.

There are 968 regional Agricultural Cooperatives nationwide, and the

.

In particular, in non-metropolitan agricultural cooperatives, there are many cases where all of them were born and raised in the same hometown.

Mr. C said,

. "

He also confessed, "Since the managing director is a senior at school and a friend of my sister-in-law, even if I swear like that, I couldn't say 'why are you swearing' even once."

In such a tangled community, "it's a good environment to look wrong and become a strange person on your own."

It is still difficult for Mr. C to understand why he has to hear such a story at work.

"What are you doing with the system?"...

still forced silence

Is the local Agricultural Cooperatives doing well in compliance with the Labor Standards Act?

We requested data on the status of violations of the Labor Standards Act from local agricultural cooperatives across the country for the past 5 years.

Of these, only 5 cases of workplace harassment occurred.

I can't say for sure, but the employees we met complained that

. "

It's obvious that you're reluctant to report it.

It is the result of a combination of the aforementioned small-scale organization, narrow community, and the authority of the union president.

Of course, each local Agricultural Cooperative has a grievance handling mechanism installed.

However, is the anonymity guaranteed for a small group of just over 60 people?

It doesn't look easy.

In addition, the person in charge of handling grievances eventually works under the union president and managing director.

Chairman Suh explained, "When the total survey was conducted at the time of the National Inspection last year, the number of places that were actually operating was close to zero."

Employees said they needed a third-party body that was transparent.

At the national level, there was also a request to create an external agency to monitor pan-regional Agricultural Cooperatives.

There is an anonymous reporting center in the National Federation and a 'red whistle' reporting center for employees of the Agricultural Cooperative Federation.

According to an official from the National Federation of Korea, as of last year, there were about 200 reports of local agricultural cooperatives nationwide, of which 18 were workplace harassment.

In the case of the Seoganghwa Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the National Association also started an audit after SBS reported it.

Depending on the audit results, a disciplinary action may be requested from the local Agricultural Cooperatives, but in the end

You will remember WeDisk Chairman Yang Jin-ho, who assaulted and forcibly dyed an employee in 2018.

The news came to light, and the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison.

However, there has been no employee who reported Yang to the Ministry of Employment and Labor so far.

He must have been afraid because of the position and power that Chairman Yang had.

After the SBS report, not only the local Agricultural Cooperatives but also the credit unions and Saemaul Geumgo with similar structures have received many reports.

It is said that a bead must be threaded through a horse to be called a treasure.

Even if a system to protect workers is in place, I think the priority is to create a transparent organizational culture so that workers can be trusted and used.