“When the wage negotiations are over soon, I decided to receive all of the direct labor costs (given by the prime contractor). Then the monthly salary will be around 3.9 먹튀검증million won before tax. After tax, I think I will get about 3.4 million won. I decided to receive 140,000 won separately for meals, 7,000 won a day.”

Heo Heo-min (52, pseudonym), who works at a food waste collection service company, is expected to receive his full share of wages for the first time in three years since joining the company next month. He fought for a full year until his monthly salary, which was 3.08 million won before tax last year, was raised by more than 800,000 won and he received meals separately. It is very natural to receive the full share of workers (direct labor costs) given by the prime contractor without intermediary exploitation by the service company , but in a place where it is natural to take off, it was only possible to obtain it by fighting.

In fact, a bill to prevent intermediate wage exploitation of workers at service companies (Intermediate Exploitation Prevention Act) had been proposed in the National Assembly two years ago. Regarding this law, which had never been properly discussed after the proposal, on the 2nd, Lee Jae-myung, the representative of the Democratic Party, announced that “we will deal with it during the first half of this year.” Will there be a way for all the workers of the service company to receive all of their share without fighting against the prime contractor or the service company?

Lee Jae-myung, the representative of the Democratic Party, announced at the meeting held at the National Assembly on the 2nd that “we will deal with the middle exploitation prevention law during the first half of this year.” Reporter Koh Young-kwon

“Even in the work done by local governments, middle exploitation… I was surprised”

Mr. Heo joined the service company three years ago. From 10:00 pm to 6:00 am the next day, he drives a 7-ton vehicle, emptying 70 or 80 food waste bins (60/120 liters) from apartments, villas, and restaurants in Jung-gu, Ulsan. The Ulsan Jung-gu Office entrusted it to the service company he belongs to.

However, since the beginning of last year, the company has not adhered to the 5-day work week, and has made workers work 3 to 4 hours every Saturday without pay. The workers who had endured for several months formed a union in May of last year, and learned about things they did not know one by one. It was also at this time that he first learned that Mr. Heo, who said, “I got the money as it was given,” took away his wages.

The basic labor cost paid by the Jung-gu Office in Ulsan, the original contractor, to the service company in 2021 was 3.55 million won (6 days a week, domestic waste driver), but the monthly salary Mr. Heo received was 2,785,400 won (working 6 days a week at the time), which was 70 There was a difference of more than 10,000 won. In addition, the Jung-gu Office gave food expenses (7,000 won per day) to the service company, but Mr. Heo never received it. He said, ” The service contract says to pay more than 100% of the direct labor cost to the worker , but I only received 70% in the first year, 80% in the second year, and 85% in the third year.”

On October 12 last year, Ulsan Jung-gu cleaning service company unions and city council members held a press conference at Ulsan Jung-gu Office and announced the issue of mid-extortion of wages and meals by service companies. They revealed that the six service companies ate only 390 million won for three years of food for the sanitation workers. Provided by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions

It wasn’t just this. As a result of analyzing data such as the labor union’s request for information disclosure and the wage ledger provided by Ulsan-si district councilors, the representative of this company listed a ghost employee in another service company he operated and received about 700 million won in labor costs from Ulsan Dong-gu Office for 3 years. There were even suspicions of stealing. The union accused Lee of breach of trust and embezzlement, and now the representative has changed. Mr. Heo said, “I was surprised to see that even though it is a (local) government, the middleman is embezzling it . ”

“It would not have happened if the public officials had managed and supervised it.”

“At first, I thought the management was the problem. But the more I sold it, the more I thought, ‘The ward office didn’t manage it properly.’ The cause was provided by the ward office.” Heo raised his voice.

The ‘guidelines for protection of working conditions for service workers’ created by the government require local governments to check the wage payment statements of service companies. However, Mr. Heo said, “Even though the ward office gave a month’s down payment to the company and the company (falsely paid the salary), the company did not confirm whether it was paid directly to the worker.” The bosses skipped the labor cost, which is good to touch,” he said. The district office only believes in the data submitted by service companies and does not even check whether wages are properly paid to actual workers. He said, “ Public officials only talk to service companies. Workers have no chance to meet government officials at all, ” he said.

He also said, “Public officials have to come to the site twice a year to check the payroll, etc., but there was also a case where they did not go to a service company and made false documents saying that they had visited the company without going to the previous year’s photo.” He emphasized, “This would not have happened if only public officials had thoroughly supervised management.”

Even though the investigation by district councilors and labor unions revealed embezzlement and corruption by waste companies, Ulsan Jung-gu Office and Dong-gu Office continued to contract with these companies.is maintaining Mr. Heo said, “It is obvious to anyone, but the ward office only says, ‘If a final judgment comes out, we will take action accordingly. He criticized it as saying, ‘I will just wait (for the trial result)’ without making any effort to correct it or suggesting other plans.”

In March, workers belonging to a cleaning service company held a picket protest in front of the Jung-gu Office in Ulsan City, saying, “Cancel the contract with the corrupt company.” Provided by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions

“I agree, I wish”

For the past year, Mr. Heo has uncovered corruption in the company with his colleagues, held picket protests and press conferences, and demanded correction from the company and the Ulsan Jung-gu Office. “Fortunately, our company is on the right track,” he said. However, he was concerned that “it will still be like this where there are no unions.” The Ulsan region has a high unionization rate, but the unionization rate of all service workers is only 1.7% (data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2019). In other words , the possibility of resolving the middleman exploitation problem through the labor union, like Heo, is very slim .

For this reason, it is important to prevent intermediary exploitation through legislation. The key to the ‘Intermediary Exploitation Prevention Act’ proposed in the National Assembly is to prevent service companies from tampering with workers’ wages. Like the ‘direct wage payment system’ that has already been introduced in public-ordered construction projects, the prime contractor is trying to pay the wages of indirectly hired workers to a wage-only account. Mr. Heo, who said he had heard about the bill for the first time, thought for a moment and then said:

“If the law is like that, that is the most certain. Then I don’t think workers will be disadvantaged. If the bill is passed, the things I’ve been suffering so far because I didn’t know it will disappear at all. I agree.”

After the interview, he sent a handwritten message to the Hankook Ilbo. He once again emphasized the need for legislation.

“ The Intermediate Exploitation Prevention Act seems to be a law that requires direct payment of fair wages to workers. I sincerely hope that the legislation will be enacted as soon as possible to become a society in which many workers do not receive unfair compensation.I wish you .”

A handwritten message sent by Heo Heo-min (pseudonym) to the Hankook Ilbo. It contains the contents of praying for the legislation of the Intermediary Exploitation Prevention Act.

▶Go to ‘Hell of Intermediary Exploitation’: You can see numerous cases of intermediary exploitation and articles reporting the need for law revision. If you can’t click, please search with this address www.hankookilbo.com / Collect /2244.