[vol.14] VOICES FROM WORKPLACES_ The colleague-ship of Han Kuk Machine Union protected women workers from dismissal.
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:38Kyoung Ran Yoon(A director of Hot Line of Equality, Pusan Women Workers)
However, during the depression, the role of women was suddenly limited to the home and women were forced to change their workplace to the home.
It is clearly against the law on the right of labor. Although a married woman may be forced to resign from her job, this does not mean her husbands job is guaranteed. This idea does not help male workers but gives authority to employers to dismiss women workers any time they want.
It is possible to think that the dismissal of colleagues is a better guarantee for my job.
Here we have the story of a struggle made by women workers to protect their fellow union members from being dismissed.
Han Kuk Machine Co. workers union - Hyon Chul Choo, a chairman of the union - met the discriminative dismissal of women workers under the mood of IMF and dismissal arrangement.
There were, of course, the men workers who thought that it was better to dismiss women workers rather than dismissing men workers who were supposed to be main financial suppliers. However, it was a big problem for the union. Be-cause 9 union members were brought to the list to be dismissed. In this factory, there are 170 workers all together and 50 of them joined the union.
There had not been a single attempt to organize a group to support women workers and no problems arose due to the discrimination between men and women workers.
On December 27, 1997, the company suddenly made an announcement, The nine women workers out of fourteen workers in the assembly section would be dismissed by December 31st. The union acted quickly. On the following day, the union made a relief petition to the Pusan Labor Committee in the name of unjust dismissal and launched an over-night demonstration.
The chairman of the union persuaded union members, and claimed, The dismissal, which was applied to the women workers first, will soon affect all the workers. If we cannot stand together firmly on this crisis, the wind of dismissal will rush throughout the company. In light of solidarity, most of the workers,
women and men both, participated in the demonstration. The union provided a month program for the demonstration and planned solidarity activities conjunction with other women organizations. The union continued to deal with the company.
The union pointed out the fact that the company had a very sufficient budget for travel expenses because the company was an export-oriented one. The union proposed to decrease the budget for the business travel in order to rescue the dismissed women workers.
The company recorded twenty six won of whole sale per year and the union had full information about the management of the company so that the negotiation was possibly fulfilled.
Furthermore even the non union members lent their supports. Every section of the company tried to persuade the company to choose ways that would not single at some workers while excusing others. On January 3, 1998, the company finally concluded to keep on all workers.
Efficient efforts, close supervision of the companys management and consolidating the unity of the union members, is what of the union helped defend their colleagues. It also taught a good lesson to the owners of enterprises and society of the attitudes towards the women workers.
We agree with the decision of Han Kuk Machine Co., that the survival of workers and employer both, should be a good model to our society. Dismissing workers because of financial crisis is against the principal, that employers once believed in, of thinking of workers as family members.
There are so many employers who dismissed their workers without looking for other avenues, even before the dismissal arrangement was legalized. We should supervise those unjust employers who are taking advantage of this crisis by firing their workers without rational reasons and there should be enforced regulations to punish them.