▲ A taxi driver holds a picketing in protest of his dismissal due to the reduced retirement age in the employment rules.(Courtesy of the Public Service and Transport Workers' Union Kwangju Local Union)

Last year, a taxi company in Kwangju city reduced the retirement age of taxi drivers by 5 years, from 62 to 57. The company reported the details of changes in the employment rules to the Kwangju Employment and Labor Office. Since the changes bring disadvantages to the workers, the company attached the agreements duly signed by the workers to support the changes in the report.

In June last year, a taxi driver of the company received a severance notice due to his reaching the new retirement age of 57. The driver filed a petition for his case to the Jeonnam Regional Labor Relations Commission as an unfair dismissal, since he was not aware of the reduced retirement age.

The taxi company submitted the signed agreements by 42 drivers to the Jeonnam Regional Labor Relations Commission to prove the changed retirement age in the employment rules. As the petition case was deliberated by the Commission on the provided documents, the dismissed taxi driver lost his petition.

However, it was found that the company actually obtained the agreements signed by 32 drivers when it was submitted to the Kwangju Employment and Labor Office. But when the company was requested to submit the documents by the Jeonnam Labor Relations Commission, the company submitted the agreements singed by 42 drivers. What makes matters worse is that nobody exactly knows how many taxi drivers work in the company.

Concerns arise in relation to the changes in the employment rules that the verification system in the regional employment and labor offices and the deliberation process of the regional labor relations commissions do not screen out the incorrect facts properly. The changes in the employment rules require the agreement by more than a half of workers.

reported by Yoon Ja-eun
translated by Kim Sung-jin

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