[vol.9] Voices from the Field_ The housewives of Sanbon who practically showed their love
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:10Kim Sun-mi
(The editor of 'Working Women')
Four citizens living in the Gaya Apartment, Yoon Myeung-Lae, Kang Jung-Im (female 31), Lee Geum-Sun (female 39) Shin Yang-Sun (female 32) were accused of defamation and business interference by the LG group, for participating in the 'Rally for the reappointment of discharged workers' on the 27th of May in front of the head office. They had never worked for the company, nor were the discharged workers their husbands.
They were just customers whom LG they, as general citizens, participated in the 'reappointment struggle' was because they could not just stand by and watch their neighbor Lee Dong-Ryal (male, 44)'s suffering as a discharged worker. It was a year after Lee, Dong-Ryal had moved into their apartment block in 1994, when they discovered that he, who was the representative president of the tenants of Gaya apartment from the start, and who took charge of complicated problems such as the repair of defects and incineration, had been struggling for reappointment for five years as an LG discharged worker.
They were a little surprised by the term, 'discharged worker' which was only familiar to them through television, but after talking with Lee, they realized that the labor union activities, the reason for his discharge, were reasonable and just. The housewives of the apartment, who were trying to find a way to help him, thought that since LG had often advertised that, 'There is always room for our customers', it would be of help if they participated in a rally from a customer's standpoint.
They held rallies in front of the Twin building in 1995, in front of the LG factory in Anyang and the representative's house in 1996, requested a conference several times, and wrote polite letters to the representative of the company bearing the title 'to the representative as a customer', but the arrogant manner of LG did not change.
The reasonable line of thinking that because LG said they love their customers, they would be good to their workers was ignored. LG's smile was a sneer after all. They were puzzled and shocked that LG even took legal actions against them.
As soon as they overcame their shock, they started to fight, with the help of the Worker's Human Rights Counsel Office, the Anyang Citizen's Association, the Anyang Regional Labor Association and with Sanbon Citizen's Counteraction Committee, by organizing a 'Joint committee of citizens and workers demanding the withdrawal of the accusations and the reappointment of workers of LG.'. It was not an easy task with all the housework and keeping it a secret from their husbands.
After shouting slogans and picketing, and getting signatures for four hours on every Monday and Friday at the subway station, they had to go home to find piles of housework undone. The housewives realized while fighting against a big enterprise like LG, that LG's 'Righteous management' was giving a salary of only 600,000 won as a paycheck to those who have worked hard for ten years, and discharging workers without any compensation for participating in labor union activities.
At the end of last June, aware of the press, LG finally withdrew its charges as the housewives' movement started to gain attention. However, now that the housewives have realized what is right and wrong, they are showing a will to fight until Lee is reappointed. They are still carrying on the 'Joint committee of citizens and workers' and are going to restart the rallies at the subway station after the vacation period is over.
"The world changes when the housewives change". Yoon who has participated in the fight more actively than others, says that through the process of fighting she was furious about the fact that so many things that should not be happening are happening by the hands of the enterprises and the government, and that workers and citizens are so weak and helpless against them.
She was especially shocked that though neighboring housewives who were not directly connected to the problem were fighting, even standing up to ridiculous accusations, the LG workers did not even show up at the meeting to decide whether or not to strike for fear of the revenge of the company.
'We housewives are aware of many things now. We will have to change, then our husbands will change and the struggle will work out after all.' Watching Yoon smile brightly after saying this, the realization came that it would not be long until LG will finally give up the fight.