[vol.20] [Voices from the workplace] We are the workers of this land!
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:25Voice from the workplace 1.
We are the workers of this land!
- Unfinished fight by the caddies at the Pusan Country Club -
Ji Won Kim
President of the Struggle Committee for
Restoring the dismissals of Pusan Country Club
While Sae Ri Park won an international golf title, on April 30 we were informed that we were dismissed in order for them to recruit younger female caddies.
The reasons the company gave were that we were married women and that we had used false names. The sudden dismissals of 20 caddies stirred anger in our hearts and we felt that we were betrayed.
On May 1st, our colleagues protested by boycotting the new arrangement of shifts but ended with failure and we were kicked out of the workplace like our senior colleagues.
->Caddies demanding their reinstatement in front of Busan Country Club
Some of us had worked for 20 years and the average working length was six years. We had gone through service training for three years and had done our best for the development of the country club with our sweat and effort.
Therefore we could not accept the situation. Seventeen of us started our struggle. We did not have any experience of organizing or struggling.
However, we started with a petition, obtaining 80% of our colleagues' support. We also implemented a legal struggle and promoted our struggle with the support of the local KWWA society.
On July 1st, the Countermeasure Committee was formed by a women's organization in Pusan, a human rights organization, and a labor organization. We also brought our case to the Special Committee for Women.
The Dongrae local labor office interpreted the law as against us in our claims of illegal dismissal. We as irregular workers were working under the worst conditions, have succeeded in having our case reviewed by the Labor Ministry.
The Country Club took conciliatory measures individually, spread bad propaganda about us, and intimidated us.
However we tried to maintain our stand thinking of the pains suffered by 30,000 caddies across the country. So far, the struggle of the dismissed caddies has continued and the congress men, who belonged to the Environment Labor Committee, urged the Club to correct the situation. Some local social organizations also gave their solidarity.
On August 17, the Pusan Labor Hall provided the first management and labor negotiations and the second negotiation is going to be held soon.
Owing to our struggle, the Country Club won't dismiss caddies with the excuses of marriage or using false names and the remaining caddies will have the courage to struggle for their rights.
There is an another important fruit borne of our struggle. The Ministry of Labor and the National Congress have conducted an investigation in the siof golf club caddies, who have been left out of legal protection.
We have given great hopes to our fellow caddies and have reminded the golf club to be wary of carrying out unfair and unjust management. We could forget all the pains in the past because of the fruits we have achieved.
Irregular workers including caddies have no way to get legal protection. There will be more victims in the future if we stop our struggle here. And the next dismissed workers will have to struggle harder. Therefore we cannot give up here, and we shall be returning to our work.
In the process of our struggle, we were thrown on the street without any retirement allowance. However we did not throw in the towel, frustrated, but encouraged each other.
We shall continue to struggle for the recognition of our status as workers and for our pride as caddies.