Jin Air employees, who have remained silent over the crisis of flight license cancellation, are taking collective action to resolve job insecurity. Employees from Jin Air will hold a rally at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on July 25th to protest against the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s decision to cancel their licenses.
The reason for the cancellation of Jin Air’s business license began with the ‘water cup gapjil’ of Cho Hyun-min, former Korean Air executive, few months ago. During the investigation, it was found that former executive Cho, a U.S. citizen, served as Jin Air’s board of directors from 2010 to 2016.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced in April that it would investigate the license management status of Jin Air, and a final decision will be made as early as August. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will hold three hearing sessions to hear the company’s call and decide whether to cancel the license.
However, Jin Air employees, who have been suffering from job insecurity for more than four months, began protesting, saying, “Because of the negligence of responsibility of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, innocent employees are in a position where theycan lose their jobs.”
During Cho’s tenure, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issued three changes of license to Jin Air, and had to find out whether it was illegal and take administrative measures during the license review process.
The requirement of the employees’ meeting is to turn the hearing of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is happening on July 30th, into a public disclosure, so that Jin Air employees do not fall victims of administrative disposition.
Furthermore, employees criticized the ministry’s decision to cancel the license two years after Cho Hyun-min resigned, saying that therewas a public outcry over possible abuse of the administrative authority over retroactive application.
Jin Air is planning to introduce a new aircraft in Southeast Asia this July, but withdrew its application registration as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport put off its approval. Jin Air also received a warning from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the recruitment of more than 100 cabin crew members in the second half of last year.
