Voices from the Workplace 1.
The Unity of Women Workers is a Golden Ring
Lee, Hakgeum KWTU Incheon Branch, union member
3 months of unpaid wages and bankruptcy
It was February, the middle of a very cold and long winter, when my company Bukwang Trading Ltd, went bankrupt without paying us our wages for three months. My company had three owners-one legal owner, one owner in charge of operations and one owner in charge of marketing. When the company was faced with difficulties, the owner in charge of marketing ran off with the money he had collected while the two other owners blamed the other for what had happened and refused to accept responsibility.
To women workers with families and facing living difficulties and who had chosen small companies to work for, the news of the bankruptcy was like a thunderbolt and three months of overdue pay created great difficulty for us.
We cannot give up like this
We had big debates to how to overcome the situation. Some of the women workers said that this was not the first time that they have not received their overdue wages. Financial difficulties were a problem but consensus was reached by the women workers on the fact that the owners of small companies are taking the women workers for granted and they decided that they would not give up no matter what.
On February 5, we visited for the first time in our lives a place called the Department of Labor. However, government offices were not easy places to visit. After many ups and downs, we submitted a petition and realized we did not have much strength and filed for a counseling session with the KWTU.
After the session, we went to the Safe Employment Center in Seogu, Incheon, and filed for unemployment pay and filed for recognition of bankruptcy with the Department of Labor. However, we were informed that our company has not paid any employment insurance and so we were not eligible for any unemployment benefits. The Department of Labor also informed us that the company has not paid any of the 4 insurances (industrial accident insurance, pension, medical insurance, employment insurance) and in such a situation, there has been no cases where workers were recompensed for overdue wages.
It was all really difficult to understand. We thought it was the least that related governmental offices could do to supervise the payment of the 4 insurances by a legally registered company and not workers who had to struggle all day long on sewing machines to meet the work load.
The Unity of Women Workers is a Golden Ring
We, 22 women workers of Bukwang Trading Ltd, did not yield to the situation but undertook an aggressive struggle. And finally, on May 11, we were able to receive our 3-month long overdue wages and severance pay from the Wage Credit Security Fund. Victory was ours! Our voices have been raised
in anger a few times against the treatment we received on the hands of
the Department of Labor and the Employment Safety Center and we have been trapped on the streets for 3 to 4 hours at times. We have marched in the snow during the March 8 International Women's Day Rally from Myongdong Cathedral to the National Assembly. We have suffered but we did not yield and we have become victorious in our struggle.
In the beginning of our fight when we returned home late from meetings, our families used to be concerned and were critical by saying that ‘plates break when three women got together'.
We are happy not just because we received 3-months of overdue wages but because we have recovered our pride. We have decided to form a group called `haeteulnal (when the sun rises) to continue our meetings. We bought 22 rings of pure gold (one for each person) to commemorate our precious victory.
When we women workers unite, what gets broken is not crockery but the chains of prejudice of women workers. Our unity is not broken |