Having been unfairly laid off because of discriminatory retirement age requirements, two working mothers l met at Samil Company had returned to work and were in the midst of a lawsuit.

Working at a factory that packages and transports manufactured paper products, these two workers, Cho Jung-sook and Chung Yoo-soon, and a third worker Yi Sook-ja were the main characters in this struggle.

The required retirement age at Samil until 1988 was 55 for men and 50 for women. During the labor union elections, however, the extension of age requirements for women was presented as a major issue for collective bargaining. Consequently, beginning in 1990, the retirement age for skilled workers was raised to 55, for packaging workers to 52. However, as most skilled technicians are men and most packaging workers are women, this arrangement has in effect, failed to eliminate gender discrimination in retirement age requirements.

In 1992, six workers were expected to retire, and among these, three handed in written resignations. The other three workers -- Cho, Chung, and Yi __ agreed that they could not easily abandon their 18 to 20 years of experience at the company and repeatedly made demands to the company and labor union president to reform the retirement age system. In the end, Yi was laid off in April, Chung and Cho in August 1992, and Yi decided to carry out a law suit to invalidate the forced retirement.

After a year of trials. the courts decided that the male-female difference in retirement age requirements constituted a violation of the Basic Labor Standards Law and the EquaI Employment Law. The retirement was hence declared invalid, and the three workers were deemed entitled to receive all lost wages. After much procrastination, the company rehired Yi a month after the trial, and Chung and Cho were retumed to work at the end of July 1993. Working Women decided to interview these two women.

WW :How was your relationship to your co-workers after I congratulate both of you for returning to work afghan you returned to work?

Chung : There were a lot of older women at work who gave us encouraging glances. But there were also other people who kept a distance from us; this was because they were influenced by the company's vicious publicity that made us out to be troublemakers. We were also always nervous because we thought the company would send us to the factory in Hanam.

Cho : WelI, as expected, within two months of our returning to work, we got a notice that we should start going to work at the Hanam factory. That was really too much. Our families were telling us to quit, but we also thought that this was something that we needed to see through to the end. So, the three of us decided to brave the three-hour commute and start work at the Hanam factory. The work was much more difficult than it was at our origina1 factory, and they kept sending us the most products to deal with in the packaging line.

We intended to gradually mention the issue of lost wages during the time we had left work, but the union president and the company both just said we had to sue to get this pay. The company's attitude made us so angry that we decided to sue for lost wages.

WW : I'm sure it's not easy to sue the company where one is actually working. So, what was the result of the lawsuit?

Cho : We won in the first trial this January, and the company was required to pay us all lost wages during the time of our lay-off to our reinstatement.

Chung : This was the first time in our lives that we went to court. It was hard because we couldn't even understand what the judge, company rep's, or lawyers were saying very well. It made me realize that workers really need to study and have a good knowledge about the 1aw and society. Like in Yi Sook-ja's case, the company side appealed the decision, and there've already been two trials in the second round of appeals. I think we have to prepare better this time.

WW : What do your families think about your struggle?

Cho: At first, my children told me to save my pride and quit work, but as they hear more about my situation. they become more encouraging.

Chung : My family is the same way. At first, I didn't even tell my children, but l started to tell them more after l started going to work at the Hanam factory. Now, they tell me to fight on until the end.

WW : Is there anything that both of you want to say to other working women?

Cho This is something that l felt during this case, but l think it's important for workers to have self-confidence and pride in order for them to assert their rights under the law.

Chung : I hope that we have been of little help to other people in similar situations. I also hope that people realize that our common struggle is each person's personal struggle; it's important for each person to fight for our common rights.

With this 1ong-term goal, KWAU also held a discussion forum on May 27. 1994 with women Regiona1 Assembly members experienced in regional grassroots movements. The forum, entitled 'Three Years of Regional Self-government and the O.9% Challenge.' was intended to evaluate the past three years of regional self-govemment.

The forum brought together women Assembly members who have struggled in a heavily male-dominated political system in which 99.1 percent of Regional Assembly seats are occupied by men. These women leaders included Choi Soon-young (Buchon City). Kim Hye-kyung (Kwan-ak Gu), Moon Soo-jung (Kuro Ku), and Hong Mi-young (Inchon City, Buk Gu). The forum provided an opportunity for participants to listen to these women's experiences in regional government and to consider ways in which women's political participation can contribute to Korea's political development overall.

Hong describes her experience as 'the feeling of hanging on to a moving bus for three years.' In an arena in which lobbying and seniority-based politics dominate and women are treated as mere decorative flowers rather than equal participants, survival for the women Assembly members was certainly not easy.

Choi. for example, made the effort to encourage wide resident participation and consensus through public signature petitions. informal discussions, and public hearings. She was influential in the enactment of a city ordinance prohibiting cigarette dispensers.

In addition, Kim reduced the W168,000,000 Ku budget allotted from resident taxes for trash bags, of which only W30,000,000 to W40,000 000 has been used. The amount saved was transferred to funds for social welfare purposes.

Having witnessed election-rigging during the elections for Assembly chairperson, Moon alone exposed, through media report actions that were ignored by the 49 other male Assembly members and forced another round of elections for Assembly chairperson.

Through these various efforts by women Assembly members. politics has become more of a part of everyday life for regional residents. Moreover contradictions of the male-dominated political system are being pointed out and political solutions sought for issues concerning women.

In order for a healthy, grassroots democracy to take root in the regions, women's po1itical power must be actively fostered into a practical and healthy political culture. Such efforts to change the political culture on a smal1 scale will without doubt help pave the road towards a democratic society.