[vol.14] FACING A NEW DAY OF A MILITANT WOMAN WORKER_ FACING A NEW DAY OF A MILITANT WOMAN WORKER
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:39-Yon Sook Kim, A Secretary General of Machang Women Workers-
Min Na Park(A edition committee member of KWWA)
Only she has been affected by young and carefree coworkers she has been surrounded by. She identifies herself with their ages, and has never thought of marriage deeply. Each time the interviewer asked her marriage plan, she blushed. Ms. Yon Sook Kim, a shy lady, told us her life story.
She was the first born among three boys and two girls in Jinchon, Choong Buk. She had to live in her grand parents house until she became seven years old.
“My father was a petty officer and my family had to move very often. My brothers and sisters were too young to live without their parents so my parents left only me with my grand parents. I was only allowed to live with my family after I was enrolled in elementary school. Even still she had to change elementary school three times.”
She was a quiet and introverted girl. Since she had to often change schools often it was difficult for her to adjust to new atmospheres.
She remained introverted until high school. Many people said that she looked very calm and obedient and was very passive. She hated this description of herself.
'Dance and traditional music' opened her heart
The dances and playing the traditional rhythm instruments gave her a full feeling of liberation and opened her closed heart. Her present impression that is lively and cheerful may come from her campus life. It was not only her character that changed. She had a chance to study on social science through her group experience.
Through it she learned to be introspective, reflecting upon all her knowledge and understandings about the world and society. When she was a sophomore, dropped out of school with friends who were on the wanted list. She hide for a long time, and her agony was deepened. There was no reason to return to university.
“I needed to decide if I kept going in the movement. If yes, then what way should I choose? I could not sleep for many nights. One day I met a junior militant and she reproved me a lot about my militancy. I cried all night after meeting her.”
She left home leaving a letter and went to Pusan where her friend was involved in workers movement. There she started a new life and got a job in a shoe factory.
Then, she moved to the Tokyo Silicon which was located in Masan Free Export Plants in 1988 and worked there until she was dismissed from the factory in 1996. She was a good worker who dedicated herself to organize a democratic workers union.
Her factory produced the parts for musical equipment and had about 1400 workers. The factory had various sections and every section was located independently so that it was hard to get informations about other section and even more difficult to meet the workers in other sections. A year after she started working in Tokyo Silicon, her friend came to Masan and got a job in the same factory, but she could not adjust to her work and returned back to Seoul.
Being alon again scared her and made her feel lonely, as she had to get through every problem by herself. But in the end her loneliness made her strong and helped her stand firmly in her situation.
Once she decided to do something, she never looked back, she paid full attention and put all her into whatever activities she choose. In Masan, people mix a strange leaf called Banga used for buchim, a Korean pie, and it was too spicy to eat.
“The first time I tried it, it was hard to tolerate. Therefore I bought a lot of Banga and cooked buchim with Banga every day in order to adjust to that strange smell and taste. Now I cannot take the buchim without Banga. Ha Ha Ha!”
Workers Union Activities with militancy
She paid lots of visits to the labor class which was run by the Masan Catholic Womens Center, the learning class of YMCA, and other various labor classes run by local labor organizations.
She met workers from other sections and formed a small meeting group named the Promotion Committee for Democratization of Workers Union.
1990 was the happiest and busiest year of her life. She was elected as a representative of her section in which there were about 50 workers.
She was so grateful to all those who elected her. Ah! I have faith that they all want change to be made. With much our faith, we moved quickly and effectively.
“We rallied against extra work, initiated group meetings, organized meetings for group leaders, etc. We worked very hard. Subsequently my section was united, served as a good model of union work, but at the same time was frowned upon the company.”
The company relocated her close fellow members in order to isolate her. After two years, another election was held and the number of workers decreased from seventy to forty.
In the election she lost to a young worker, who was backed by the company, won the representative seat. It was an indispensable result but it was still very painful to her. She reflected on the matter.
Have I only cared about my people ? Have I neglected the others? Its all right for others to have their own opinions. I should reveal weakness to my colleagues....
Even though she was not elected as a representative, she was indeed elected as an executive committee member and could participate in the leaders meeting. It provided her to have good experiences for her field work.
The union leaders who were not involved in the Promotion Committee for Democratization of Workers Union(PCDWU), but she studied be an union leader? and cooperated with the other leaders. It helped her learn more about the factory's internal atmosphere. She also organized a traditional rhythm instrument group. Two years later, she was re-elected as a representative and favored with 97% the vote.
’ She earned more power in the union and consolidated her leadership. The PCDWU published a newsletter, 'Working People' which was stopped by the company after three volumes. The committee re-published another newsletter with the title 'One Step More'. In 1994, more workers were married and an increasing number of workers left the company.
The newsletter helped the people of knowing new information related to the workers' life. The Traditional Rhythm instrument group and the survey group on historic remains, formed in 1995, were in favor of merging. An election for the Union chairperson on July, 1996. She felt she should run for the election.
"The chances were slim because a number of activists left the field. It was hard to distribute our newsletters to the workers in a dormitory. Therefore I entered the dorm and lived there in the winter of 1995. She had to go to a hospital for more than three months due to pains in her waist. She had to make a difficult decision concerning the election.”
Even though her health was poor, she still had to run for the election because the activities of PCDWU were repressed and people were not well united. She wanted to take the chance to motivate the people and inspire activities through the election.
She also wanted to reflect on her past activities through the election. There were four candidates in the election and she lost in the election with the least votes. It was, in fact, expected.
Her base was not strong enough or she had a very short time for her election campaign. Even though it was expected, the result frustrated her so much. She was happy though that she could develop good relations with other union members.
A month after the election, she was caught by the police on the way home.
A new start with a new readiness
However, at the same time, I was comforted with the fact that I could have my real name again after living under an alias for so long time. I had to search for a new start. What should I do and how should I do it ? I asked myself. I was even afraid making a wrong start.”
There were several offers for future activities, but she chose to work for the Women Workers which, she thought, was quite related to the activities of PCDWU. As a year past, she had not clear plans of work in her own for the women workers movement.
Works in the organization, she found, were quite different from works in the field. She therefore need more time to reflect. She needed more time to study the women workers movement.
She had been very busy when she was a worker, and now she had more time to think about herself. When I asked her whether she planned to marry, her response was not so positive. Why do what you might regret. was her resolution to be. She looked much more innocent than her age.
We hope that in the ends she is saying,I have done it, and its great..