Auto parts company investigated on allegations of having workers roughed up

Posted on : 2012-07-31 14:18 KST Modified on : 2012-07-31 14:18 KST
Sources say workers belong to private contractor, but were ordered to act violently by SJM
 staff photographer)
staff photographer)

By Um Ji-won and Heo Jae-hyun, staff reporters

Car parts manufacturer SJM is alleged by workers to have ordered personnel from the private security firm Contactus to violently break-up a sit-down strike at its factory in Ansan, Gyeonggi province on July 27. Police are investigating SJM on charges of ordering violence by privately contracted security workers.

On condition of anonymity, a team leader from Contactus met with the Hankyoreh on July 30.

He said, “The individual security guards have no right whatsoever to use force... Command of the guards is naturally with the contracting company. Everything is controlled by the contracting company.”

The contracting company that asked Contactus to break up the sit-down strike was SJM.

The Contractus employee explained, “The contracting company and security company hold perfunctory discussions on the timing and methods of breaking up strikes, but most operations take place on the unilateral order of the contracting company.”

The source from Contractus reported that the firm puts together “free teams” composed of four-to-ten men hired on a daily basis for 70,000-80,000 won. These teams are deployed to the scene.

The staffer said, “The specific orders regarding how to break up the strike is conveyed to the ‘free teams’ through Contactus, which receives orders from the contracting company.”

Officials from other private security firms corroborated this account.

An official from a private security firm who asked not to be named said, “The execution of on-site operations is always carried out in accordance with the orders of the contracting company.”

He said the security firm can decide on its own how to recruit the men, put them on buses and deploy them to the scene, but after this, the method of breaking up a strike - including advancing and retreating - takes place entirely in accordance with the contracting company’s orders.

An official from another private security firm said, “When violence erupts, whether to retreat or fight is entirely up to the contracting company.”

On July 30, SJM’s unionists released a photo of a high-ranking SJM executive commanding the sneak assault by security guards at the rear gate of the factory in the early morning hours of July 27.

In the photo, the company executive is standing amidst the security guards, staring at the strike scene.

The strikers claimed the executive was shouting as he exercised command, and that they are collecting several photographs to prove it.

In a phone conversation with the Hankyoreh, the executive in question refuted the claims, saying, “As a manager, of course I was at the scene, but I did not incite any violence.”

Ansan Danwon Police Station said it would thoroughly investigate whether SJM went along with or encouraged the violence.

A police official said, “We know that a private security firm cannot exercise violence on its own... We are investigating whether the SJM side give advance orders to exercise violence.”

Another police official said, “It’s highly possible the security guards knew beforehand that scenes of violence and other illegal acts would not be taped since there were no CCTVs inside the company at the time.”

This is to say, one cannot exclude the possibility that the company leaked to security personnel the internal layout of the company as it ordered them to violently break up the strike.

The police, who have already questioned about ten Contactus executives over possible violations of the Security Services Industry Act and whether orders to commit violence were given, plans to investigate all the roughly 150 security personnel mobilized for the factory operation and punish them as accomplices to assault.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Contactus has grown since the start of the Lee Myung-bak administration, becoming a common presence at workplaces experiencing labor disputes.

Listed in a report announced by Rep. Chang Ha-na of the Democratic United Party on Contactus’ main clients as of December 2010 are Sangsin Brake (37.7% of total revenue), Valeo Electrical Systems Korea (13.28%) and 3M Korea (9.17%).

All these were core Korean Metal Workers’ Union workplaces, but after lockouts or the deployment of security personnel, democratic trade unions at the work sites collapsed.

The report was put together using data from private credit rating agencies.

Unionists from each of the sites vividly remember the violence inflicted on them by private security firms including Contactus.

In June 2010, dozens of unionists were injured as box cutter-wielding employees of several security firms, including Contactus, removed strikers’ tents.

One 3M Korea unionist testified, “Employees of several security firms, including a person with ‘Contactus’ written on his name tag, assaulted the unionists.”

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