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Gu Eun-jung (Member of the Desung Bigstar labor union)
The conspiracy by the company to oppress the labor union made us fear and despair even before our commitment to establish the union passed away. However the struggle was the only thing left to us who had nothing else to give up however hard we looked back. Because of the forced shutdown, only half of the union members were left, and the everyday use of violence made us wonder if they even considered us human. The threat to the existence of our jobs such as a pretended suspension of operations, unfair worker lay offs, and the workshop shutdown made us bitterly realize how those who have money tried to tie our hands and feet, and strangle our necks. One young woman who faced the loss of her house and with nowhere else to go, and who had to go home after that day's struggle without a penny being paid after being forced out of her job, was grief itself. The empty pockets of a woman with her husband deceased, caring for her children in high school and running the household by herself, was filled with the heart of her young son who sold rice cakes without her knowledge, but that fact also was part of her hidden tears. The dignified features of the woman who paid the union fees despite her hard life and compensated for her lack of ability to cover her living expenses with government rice gave us much hope. Even though at this time we could not even afford traffic expenses and spent more than two hours walking back and forth to our workplaces, we could see her waking up from her sleep with the willpower to stay together with the fellow workers. Our hope was seen over the wired walls side by side with our fellow workers - The hope to go back to our workplace someday. We listened. On the union office wall was hung the words of prayer, asking for the everlasting development of the Desung labor union in the union office. We did not ask for something extraordinary - only the necessary number of full time union activists for legally acknowledged labour union activities, and a small office where we could comfortably gather. We had only tried to defend our rights at least in our labor site, where we can still hear the echo of the shout of the labor hero Jun Tae-Il twenty five years ago who cried 'Observe the labor standard law!' as he set himself on fire. We did not want to feel guilty when we were not fit enough to do the overtime work, and wanted to let others know that we were human, not machinery forced to volunteer, and be transferred anytime, anywhere. We disliked the absurd reality where even women over fifty had to listen politely to lectures of the supervisor like a young and irresponsible student just because they had not arrived ten minutes before starting time. We could not ignore the shameless pursuit of profits such as making young workers come an hour early to work to make up an eight hour shift because the seven hour operation according to the labor standard law was not carried out properly. This was in spite of the fact that they suffered from bloody noses because of the burden of working in the daytime and studying at night. However there was no one to stay at our side. The regional office of labor affairs where we went to lodge our grievances, scoffed at us by locking their gates. The regional labor committee, where we went to receive a fair judgement about the unfair violence and unjust labor action, made our blood boil with biased examinations and statements. If organizations supposed to work for the betterment of workers' rights mistreated us like this, it is no use talking about others. We learned much from our five month struggle. We learned to become one as we watched our fellow workers who because of circumstances still remained in the workshop but always dropped their heads when we passed by. We learned that we can be nothing but one in our mind and our body while we dashed against the locked gates trying to gain an entrance. We gained precious friends who we would not exchange for anything else in the world, in the silently smiling faces, and as we held hands in the harsh weather which grew colder and colder. From now on, we will never go back to the old way of dropping our heads and sighing relentlessly. No, we cannot go back. We cannot be the workers of yesterday any longer. There is only one thing left. To go back to our workshop hand in hand with the full time unionists in the lead, so that we can hang the name 'Desung Labor union' in the company. Ultimately, the flag of the Desung labor union will wave in the winds by the hand of our four hundred union members. |
To us, who were forced out into the streets from our work just because we participated in a go-slow strike for a few days, the blue sky was so blue that it made our situation even harder to bear. However our resolution to live a decent human life stopped us from giving up. Rather on this same morning it made us shout aloud, 'Let us defend the democratic labor union so we can live a decent life', despite the heavy snow.