[vol.21] Resolution

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:35

Statement


Korean women workers have become the first target for discriminatory restructuring caused by the economic crisis and the IMF bailout. In addition, most of them have experienced employment insecurity because they are employed as temporary and contractual workers.

They are dismissed in the pretext that they are old, their wages have been cut, and they have experienced much pressure by the company to leave their jobs, because they are married, pregnant, or have delivered babies.

In particular, it has become viewed as natural that much older irregular workers receive unfair treatment, and women workers are faced by the reality where their basic right to work and equality between men and women, which should be protected by law, has been largely ignored.

We, women workers cannot ignore this unfair reality any more. In this economic crisis we found the achievement women workers have struggled for is unattainable if we do not fight with organized efforts.

We will do our best to unite and strengthen women workers across the nation, and so we will fight strongly to obtain employment security, maternity protection and the right to work.

We demand the following :
1. Make comprehensive labor laws and social security laws for all working women, regardless of their employment status.
2. Extend protection of the Labor Standard Law to workers in small size companies with less than 4 workers.
3. Insure regular jobs to irregular workers. Also, regulate and monitor labor practices for a higher number of workers who have worked on an irregular basis.
4. Create jobs in the public sector and implement affirmative action to expand women's employment.
5. Shorten working hours and implement the three labor laws.
6. Increase the minimum wage 50% on average in all industries and apply it to all companies.
7. Provide affirmative measures to remove gender discrimination, verbal harassment and other violence against women.
8. Increase maternity leave to 90 days and protect costs related to maternity protection as a social security.
9. Secure all women's employment during their maternity leaves especially after childbirth, and implement income-supporting policies.
10. Expand and strengthen social welfare centers, and increase social welfare related expenditure.
11. Strengthen administration and monitoring for working women.

We will strongly struggle for these demands to be realized. Additionally, we will carry out strong and active campaigns to obtain legal rights for irregular women workers. We will resolve to strengthen unite and organize unorganized women workers.

Dated March 5, 2000

Participants in the Korean Women Workers' Rally

Korea Working Women's Network 2000
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.21] Declaration for establishing the Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Women Workers' RightsDeclration for

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:33

Declaration for establishing the Action Center
for Obtaining Irregular Women Workers' Rights



1. We declare the establishment of the Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Working Women's Rights (ACOIWWR), in celebration of International women's day in the new millennium.


For last ten years, an increasing number of women workers have entered the labor market, as temporary workers and wage workers and they work in the informal sector. Among the total number of women workers, 64% of women work at companies with less than five workers, and 70% of women are temporary and day workers.

There has been a steady decrease in the number of women workers' union members due to the worsening employment situation for women workers and the change in the employment structure.

In particular, the last three years because of the Korean economic crisis, women have experienced all sorts of illegal labor practices and worsening working conditions, under the pretext of strengthening Korean companies' competitiveness: they are reallocated from regular workers to temporary and/or day workers, and they are forcibly transferred to dispatched workers status.

Today, we declare women workers' rights in celebration of international women's day in the year 2000. We firmly declare that this is the issue for all women and that we pursue the way for uniting women workers and obtaining their rights.

In addition, we declare that the development of women's potential and the achievement of employment security is the way to encourage women, half of the world's population, to be a main force to develop Korean society in the 21th century.


2. ACOIWWR will take action to implement labor related laws in the workplace.


According to the law, all workers should be protected and treated equally regardless of their different employment status. Nevertheless, up to 70% of irregular women workers are not actually protected. Further, it is regarded as natural for these irregular workers to receive unequal treatment.

According to the Current Situation to What Extent the Labor Standard Law is applied in the Companies with Less Than 4 Workers, published by the Korean Women's Trade Union and the KWWAU in November 1999, only one-thirds of the companies that answered follow the Labor Standard Law.

We found the ACOIWWR to change this reality by our efforts. We will give information to all women workers and give advice and aid to the workers where they are needed, and we will struggle against illegal labor practices.

Additionally, the ACOIWWR will demand the Ministry of Labor and the authorities concerned to monitor labor related laws in the workplace. Labor laws are not followed in the workplace, because the authorities concerned have not functioned properly.


3. The ACOIWWR will fight for the situation in which all working women can freely join unions and they can be protected and covered by the Labor Standard Law and the four(4) social security insurances.


Since the 1980s, the sector where an increasing number of women have been employed, women workers have not been able to obtain their proper rights to work. Examples are women workers who are involved as study-book teachers, golf caddies, saleswomen of insurance companies, and women who are engaged in delivery and/or sales.

Actually they are workers who have been directly employed by companies, but since 1987 when the workers' mass struggles took place, flexibility in the labor market has increased and subtle and distorting tactics of employment have been employed to destroy the labor union movement: actually workers work with the seeming position of the self-employed.

Although they are workers who are subordinate in terms of employment relations and administration relations, their basic rights as workers have not been recognized, so deep tensions are always there.

In addition, in the case of home-based workers, because their employment relations are very unclear, they are excluded from the Labor Standard Law.

We will struggle for women workers' unity, for workers to be organized into unions and all working women to be enjoy the Labor Standard Law and four Korean social security insurances.


4. The ACOIWWR will carry out campaigns of changing laws and wage solidarity activities to improve working conditions for irregular workers.


We will carry out campaigns for preparing for regulations to prevent the number of irregular workers from being expanded. Irregular workers have same hours and have similar tasks, but they work on acontractual basis.

They are discriminated against because they work on a variety of employment bases such as dispatched workers, part-time workers, and day workers. We will fight to obtain legal protection for these nominal irregular workers.

In addition, We will also fight against illegal and unfair labor practice where workers are forcibly relocated as dispatched workers belonging to manpower companies.

The ACOIWWR will carry out our struggles in solidarity with other trade unions, women's organizations and other labor organizations to obtain proper rights for irregular workers and to change existing laws.

In addition, We will campaign in the World March against Poverty and Violence against women with other women around the world for the celebration of international women's day in the year of 2000.


dated March 5, 20000

Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Working Women's Rights
(Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Kwangju, Inchon, Masan and Changwon, Iksan and Chonju, Ansan, and Pucheon)

We make the following resolutions: 1. We will know our legal rights and follow them in practice.
2. We will put our interests in others' working conditions and do our best to give information to them.
3. We will let others know about the ACOIWWR and help others to participate.
4. We will take part in the ACOIWWR's activities at least one a month.
5. We will take action with the ACOIWWR.
6. We will check our activities as a member of the ACOIWWR every month.

Korea Working Women's Network 2000
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] Working Women Vol.20

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:32

Working Women Vol.20

September, 1999
A edition committee member of KWWA



    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    ◑ Feature

    Employment situation and future task for unorganized women workers 3

    ◑ Special Issue

    1. Let's stand firm with the pride of five million women workers! 7
    2. Grandly and delicately (interview) 9
    3. Centripetal force of women worker's unity opening a new century 11

    ◑ Life story written by Park, Min-na

    Survival in the 80s of Dan Moo Ji 13

    ◑ Voices from the workplace

    1. We are the workers of this land! 20
    2. Completing the struggle for "Abrogation of the Series System" 22
    3. After devoting our youth to the company, must we pay the price of unjust dismissal? 24

    ◑ Equal Rights Counseling

    Analysis on the counseling for the second quarter of 1999 26

    ◑ Report on the International Meeting

    The solution to the problem of the exploitation of women workers in Central and South American countries by Korean companies is to be found in worker solidarity 31

    ◑ Action center for women's unemployment

    Evaluation and policy proposals on the first anniversary of the ACWU 35

    ◑ News 42

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Feature] Employment situation and future task for unorganized women workers

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:31


feature.


Employment Situation & Future Tasks For
Unorganized Women Workers




Jin Young Park
Research Officer of KWWAU



This is a summary of the report from the forum on the "Employment Situation and Future Tasks for Unorganized Women Workers" on July 15.

This research was planned in order to expose the reality of the irregular and unorganized women workers employed in poor workplaces which failed to be included in the previous statistics.

The main subjects of the research were those women workers employed in workplaces without unions and those who were not attached to a union though one existed in their workplace.

The research was conducted from May to June in seven areas - Seoul, Puchon, Ansan, North Cholla, Kwangju, Masan & Changwon, and Pusan - by KWWAs and promotional committees of the KWTU.

A total 1,692 questionnaires were collected. For the main analysis, 1,598 cases were used and the remaining 98 cases, in which the subjects were women in workplaces with a union, were partially used for comparison.

Low wages, long working hours, insecure employment, insufficient vacations, low enrollment rate in social insurance

According to the results of the research, the situation of unorganized women workers can be summarized in their low wages, long working hours, insecure employment, insufficient vacations, and low enrollment in social insurance. On average, they work 57 hours per week and receive W645,000 per month.

52.6% of the irregular women workers said that they opted for irregular work because they could not find regular jobs. However, regular workers in small workplaces were still suffering from unfair and unconditional dismissals.

Regarding the section on monthly leave, annual leave, and other vacations, a lot of unorganized women workers said no vacations existed or they did not take vacations even if they did exist.

44.7% of the respondents said monthly leave did exist, 38.0% said the same for annual leave, but less than 50% of respondents said they actually took vacations in the cases where vacations existed.

30.2% of respondents had menstrual leave, 20.6% of respondents had maternity leave, and only 8.9% had child-care leave.

In small workplaces, less than 10% of workers had menstrual leave, maternity leave, or child-care leave. Particularly in the case of the workers who did not have a written contract with the company, a very high portion of them said no vacations existed or were actually used.



The enrollment rate for social insurance

The enrollment rate for social insurance is very low. The rate of enrollment in medical insurance is 42.4%, in public pensions is 42.0%, and in unemployment insurance is 43.5%. Enrollment rates are less than half in all three areas.

Workers in smaller-sized workplaces and irregular workers have a lower rate of enrollment.

The most essential demands of the respondents were shorter working hours (22.7%) and actual use of vacations (21.9%). This shows the reality - they are working for a long time without vacations or are unable to take vacations even if vacations technically exist.

In the case of married women, they most desired obtaining assistance in maintaining both their jobs and their home responsibilities.

Hope to set up union - but commitment is a different story

81.2% of women workers agreed with the necessity of a union however, they displayed a very passive attitude towards joining the union. Only 49.1% affirmed that they would join a union if there was one and 36.0% of them said are suffering from unjust and unconditional dismissals. Therefore the present situation leaves the most helpless people out of legal protection.

Resolution to improve the situation of unorganized women workers

In order to improve the situation of these unorganized women workers:

First, it is necessary to achieve full application of the already existing laws.

At present, the application of the Labor Standard Law is supposed to have been expanded to workplaces with less than four workers, however, its main guarantees have not yet been applied in these areas.

According to the research, in smaller workplaces employees still suffer the bad working conditions of low wages, long working hours, and almost no welfare.

Furthermore, they that they had never thought of joining the union. This reflects the passive attitude of women workers towards the union and also illustrates the organizational problems encountered by existing unions.

Second, we should make more effort to strengthen the effectiveness of the existing laws. Unorganized women workers are working much longer than is manifested in the law and have no guarantee to the rights of vacations and social insurance.

In addition, employers are increasing their irregular bases of workers in order to avoid violating the labor laws which protect regular workers.

Workers themselves think that irregular workers have no rights to protection by law. However, the labor laws are supposed to be applicable for all workers.

In order to improve the situation, the administration should conduct stricter management and supervision and, at the same time, there should be more active and widespread education and policy promotion for employers in order to make them aware of labor laws and practical applications.

Third, we should work for increasing wages and shortening working hours. The women workers' situation of receiving low wages and long working hours was discovered in the 70s or 80s, but the same situation still exists today for unorganized women workers.

The following points should be accomplished: shorter working hours, the expansion of vacations, application of the minimum wage system across the board, an increase in the minimum wage, an end to irrational discrimination between different forms of employment, educational backgrounds, occupations, and the scale of workplace.

Fourth,there should be assistance for women attempting to maintain both work and home lives. To the question of what the most urgent necessity is, many married women workers said that they need help to maintain both lives in the workplace and at home.

Only 19.7% and 8.4% respectively affirmed that maternity leave and child-care leave were given and only 13.2% and 4.8% said that they could use both leaves.

The employers should change their distorted attitudes to women workers, the general administration of protective policies for women must be improved and applied more consistently, and the collective social responsibility for the expenses of maternity leave and child-care leave should be made clear.

Fifth, with the full facts in mind, we should develop a strategy for organizing women workers and active implementation should follow.

In addition, we should consider questions related to the need for a union and to join the union. The majority of women workers agree with the need for a union but not many of them are willing to join the union.

This of course shows the real level of women workers' consciousness at present. At the same time it shows that the existing unions have not really put enough effort into organizing these worker sectors.

Now, both national unions, their local units, the KWTU, and its local units should fulfill more active and practical strategies for unorganized women workers.




Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Special Issue] 1. Let's stand firm with the pride of five million women workers!

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:30
special issue 1.

Let's stand firm with
the pride of five million women workers




Sang Rim Choi
President of KWTU



On August 29, the Korean Women's Trade Union (KWTU) was launched. The KWTU is open to every working woman no matter what post or work area she inhabits. In many regional areas, women's trade unions were set up from January onwards. However, this is the first time a trade union has been established on a national level. We here explain the need for and aims of the newly-established KWTU, print the interview with the first president, Ms. Sang Rim Choi, and describe the scene at the opening ceremony of the KWTU.

On August 29, 1999, we witnessed an extremely important development in the history of the women workers' movement. All those who committed themselves to the unity of women workers and the improvement of women workers' rights based on the Korea Women Workers Associations gathered together to establish the Korean Women's Trade Union (KWTU).

The KWTU takes the demands of every working woman as the essential consideration in the improvement of women workers' rights and for the development of female strength.

The present situation confronting women workers at the gateway to the 21st century can be summed up in the following facts:

64% of women workers are employed in workplaces with less than 4 workers; 70% of women workers are employed on an irregular basis; women workers are the primary targets for dismissal; women workers are pressurized to resign upon marriage or pregnancy; the rate of organized women is only 5.6%.

There is no more room for maneuver for the women who are working under constantly deteriorating conditions.

The KWTU is a union which works for the organization of women workers and for the expansion of women workers' rights, with the essential task of campaigning for the realization of the demands of working women. The KWTU works for the improvement of conditions facing women workers and for the solution of all the difficulties hampering women workers-marital difficulties, problems arising from giving birth, child care, discrimination in society as a whole and in the workplace, and so on.





 



explanation> Inaugural ceremony of the KWTU

KWTU is open to every working woman in every occupational field and work position and aims to unify women workers across the nation.

It is difficult for women workers to hold down long-term jobs for a variety of reasons including the simultaneous maintenance of the responsibilities of marriage, pregnancy, child care, and nursing.

The economic areas they occupy have seen a general shift from the clerical field to manufacturing, to housewives, to home-makers, and then to insurance agents when their children have grown up. The KWTU will try to adapt its policies to the various forms of women workers' lives. It is hoped that the KWTU will be a good model for unorganized women workers.

KWTU strives for the healthy development of Korean society

The industrialization of Korea has progressed propped up by the sacrifices made by women such as accepting low wages, full responsibility for house work, prior dismissal, and so on. This way of development is hampering the healthy long-term development of Korean society, but it continues because of the low organizational rate of women workers.

We shall be protesting against the sacrifice of women for any reason and building an equal and satisfactory social development through organizing women workers and improving women's access to power. We believe that we can level up the role of women in the 21st century when society will require more creative, benevolent, and collaborative social relations for progress.

How to manage satisfactorily a women's trade union which encompasses various occupations?

The KWTU has chosen as its main tasks assisting the development of women, promoting projects which maximize the participation of women, and expanding the welfare of its members. Another task of the KWTU is to assist solidarity in and between units in various areas and to provide leadership and direction for the KWTU as a whole.

We believe that we can achieve this through the heartfelt will of our members, listening to comments and advice from those who have committed themselves to the development of the women workers' mass movement, and solidarity. Based on these, we will gradually find the answers for the times.


Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Special Issue] 2. Grandly and delicately (interview)

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:29
special issue 2.

Grandly and delicately
- Meeting with Ms. Sang Rim Choi, the president of the KWTU -




Young Mi Choi
Chief executive of Puchon WWA




I had to try hard to find the opportunity to meet the President Sang Rim Choi, who was extremely busy with the preparations for the opening ceremony of the KWTU. I finally met her on August 23. She had just come back from her visit to Pusan and Kwangju for the roundtable discussions. Wearing a white yam jacket with beige pants, she looked young and elegant.

You've probably been asked this question many times. Could you tell me the background of the KWTU?

Since 1995, when the business restructuring and flexibilization policy started, the status of women workers has become more insecure and the organized rate of women workers has dropped. Therefore we were faced with the urgent task of securing a mass base of women workers, and we took long considerations on the possible ways to organize women workers.

The IMF Relief Fund happened to escalate our efforts. The increasingly desperate situation confronting women workers, whereby 70% of women workers are irregular and only 5% of them are organized, led us to hasten our efforts to establish the women's trade union

Some people criticize the KWTU as being too inclusive.

Yes. We are open to all kinds of occupations, from manufacturing workers to nursing care helpers, house work helpers, and so on. At the moment, unions already exist in workplaces with more than 300 workers, and our main targets will be workplaces with less than 300 workers.

We may need to concentrate our efforts towards irregular workers in small workplaces for a better effect and appeal to people who already have a social conscience. We are now making the preparations for the publicization of our movement. Watch this space!

You are faced with many tasks, from improving the social status of women workers to maternity protection. Which will be the first to be tackled?

We shall start with campaigning for the realization of legal rights which exist only on paper. We will work for the full application of the Labor Standard Law and four main insurances. We plan to see their application in every occupation and workplace.











-->
explanation>Staff members in inaugural ceremony of KTWU.
The 4th of left is president Choi.

 There are concerns that the KWTU could instigate the breakup of the solidarity of workers as a whole.

It's possible to think that way. However, we should remind ourselves that the women's movement has been one of the forces shaping our society. We should also look at the facts of the situation clearly: the present organized rate of women workers is very low.

In order to create a powerful force, we should increase the organized rate based on the principle that "workers are one". We can establish a strong unity through respecting each other and promoting mutual collaboration.

At the moment, there are nine women's trade unions in Seoul, in the southern part of Kyonggi, in Seongnam, and so on. We shall collaborate with them in the light of mutual respect and mutual solidarity. It is the same with the two National Unions.

We already have experience of working in close collaboration with the departments for women in the two national Unions. The rise of the women workers' movement will prove a turning point for the unity of the labor sector no matter what the political stand.

It seems that the married women workers are also included in your targeted groups. Isn't it difficult to organize married women workers?

We should acknowledge the fact that the activity capacity of married women is lower due to social conditions. The problem is how to approach them. The KWTU will act as a Chinjeong which listens to their difficulties and the problems related to their children and families.

We will also invest effort in establishing countermeasures for problems like lack of child care as an important part of the work of the KWTU.

Finally, do you have anything more to tell people?

This is the most difficult question, I guess (laughs). We have been so exploited and faced with very hard living conditions. Therefore it is very difficult to have faith in others.

After overcoming all else, feelings of internal inferiority and defeatism can persist. In fact, we are talented and capable in many ways. However, we used to say, "I can't do it."

Now, I want us opening day was 380. She added that this number disappointed reporters as the number was so small for a national organization. She laughed loudly telling me that.

I have felt a sincere and profound interest in the KWTU, which is a large organization but yet which wishes to hear the concerns of the individual, an organization which listens to the difficulties and pains of women workers who are looking to regain their lost confidence.


 Introduction

President Sang Rime Choi

1957 Born in Taegu
1977-79 Committed herself to student movement
1980-83 Committed herself to the Labor movement in Guro and Inchon
1984 Worked in the Labor Resource Center at the Inchon Urban and Industrial Mission Church
1988 Established Korea Labor Movement Institute
1990 Chief Executive of the Education Dept. of the Inchon WWA
1992 Main author of "Awaken woman, Grand worker"
1994-98 Chairwoman of Inchon WWA


Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Special Issue] 3. Centripetal force of women worker's unity opening a new century

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:27
special issue 3.

Centripetal force of women workers' unity opening
a new century




Hae Jeong Kim
A member of the Ansan & Sihung unit of the KWTU



On August 29, it was a sunny and fine day. From early dawn, the members of the KWTU from all over the country walked quickly to the Yurim Center. Carrying their lunch boxes decorated with different-colored flags, to illustrate the unity of each group, the members of KWTU from all over the country gathered in the Yurim Center.

Unlike at other meetings, women carried their to gather together to help each other restore lost confidence. For the actual final question, I asked about the present number of members. She told me that the target number for the opening day was 380.

She added that this number disappointed reporters as the number children proudly, some on their backs and some walking together with their kids.

There was a national assembly of the KWTU on the opening day. We set down the rules by which we will operate, elected our leaders, and established regional KWTUs which will lead us from the end of this century to the new century. The KWTU was born.

A beautiful swan on a lake must busily move its legs under the water. It was possible to launch our KWTU on the back of the hot activity of the summer of our members and union leaders. Face-to-face we shared the warm friendship which concluded our assembly. The memorial ceremony for the late Kyoung Sook Kim followed.

In the ceremony, we all felt hot and had solemn hearts. The spirit exemplified by the late labor militant was refreshed in us and the ideals of rebuilding a benevolent world were strengthened.

"Well, let's begin the opening ceremony for the KWTU and the Women Workers' Han Madang which will be a new chapter in the history of women workers!"

The opening ceremony, which started with this announcement from the great voice of the M.C., was followed by the march of our flags.


Seoul, never giving up; Kwangju, a city of revolution; Inchon, the city of efficiency and effort; Pusan, the southernmost city with lots of passion; Ansan & Sihung, started last but want to arrive first, the running city; Iksan & Cheonju, the city of the best taste (and a unit of very talkative married women); Masan & Changwon, insisting that the best way to achieve is to cover every mile by foot - the more energy, the greater the reward. Where there exist women workers, all those flags will follow.

The flag of liberation, the flag of equality, the flag of women workers' unity, and the flag of the KWTU!

The flag of KWTU went at the front. There were congratulatory speeches by the representatives from the FKTU, KCTU, Korea Women's Associations United, and the Asia Women's Committee, coming from over the sea, who added their heartfelt congratulations to the consolidation of the KWTU which will be opening a new page in our history.

The speeches were followed by a program, which was provided by the participants, and the Han Madang. We enjoyed the picture drawn by the artist In Soon Kim, KWTU song made by the Women Songsters, the passionate dance by the "Youth of Bare Feet" formed by married women, and so on.

The slide show entitled "Wild flower, fire flower, your name is a woman worker!" encouraged women workers to feel the great power within them which could change the world. The launch of the KWTU!

Let's open the gate to a new century with our passion in perfect order! Let's pass on the world we want to make to our daughters! And let's make a unity of the 4.8 million unorganized women workers through the newly set-up KWTU!

The KWTU, which will organize the new way, assisted by both the hearts of mothers and a passion hot enough to heat a smelting furnace.

The KWTU, which will be shaped by our hands, will provide a venue for the women workers' sighs and tears like the shade under the tree which keeps quiet vigil of our home town.


Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Life story written by Park, Min-na] Survival in the 80s of Dan Moo Ji

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:26

Life Story Written by Park, min-na



Survival in the 80s of Dan Moo Ji
- Seok Hee Jang, Chairperson of Seoul Women Workers Association -




Min Na Park
Edition committee member of KWWAU



In summer of 1985, the burning sun was melting the busy streets and the emerging workers' struggle in Garibong-dong brought Seoul to boiling point.

The united struggle in the Guro area, which was conducted by the unions of the Daewoo Garment Co. Hyoseong Inc., Garibong Electronics, Sunil Electronics, and Buhung co. that were at almost the same time workplaces in which unions were being set up, was a memorable event in the struggle against the military regime.

At that time Ms. Seok Hee Jang had been a sewing machine worker in Korong Co. for one year. After the Guro Struggle, which resulted in the dismissals of over a thousand workers, there was a severe crack-down on the struggle in November.

She, along with two other colleagues, was kicked out onto the street. Her four-year long and difficult struggle for the restoration of her job started at that point.

Her struggle encountered repressive violence and she lost the hearing in her left ear. When I met her for an interview, she was holding her bag on her left-hand side and though her hand-phone was ringing in her bag she could not hear it.


The storm of dismissals after the Guro Solidarity Struggle


"The Solidarity Struggle was severely attacked, and we, hanging on for the establishment of a democratic trade union, we were united in our will to do something. We had the idea of distributing flyers. We worked on the fourth floor.

We divided the floors, and each of us took charge of one floor. We brought the flyers in under our coats. We did not go home after the night's work and hid in the bathroom.

At midnight we started our work. We left the flyers in places like the inside pockets of uniforms, in between the stuff for the next day's work, etc. The flyers were found the next day. It was a nice strategy.

But it was horrible to be in that dark workplace. Luckily there was an industrial headquarters beside our building. We could, at least, get some light from the street light at the headquarters.

When we entered the working place at dark night, we were so afraid that all our nerves were tense. We gave thanks for the light from the street."


She said, laughing, that she did not give these details to the prosecutor during her interrogation.

However the company started looking for the distributors of the flyers which were found hidden all over the place.

In the process, she and two other workers were fired, ostensibly because they gave their educational background incorrectly. They were senior high school graduates but wrote that they were junior high school graduates.

In the end the standing committee for disciplinary measures called a meeting and the committee decided to fire them. The president of the "yellow union" merely said, "Kick them out!"

Three company guards dragged them out the gate and took their uniforms from them by force. This happened on November 23, 1985.

They were shocked and sat down by the industrial complex until it got dark. Jang wondered if she had really been fired... She really could not understand the attitude of the union president and thought a lot about the situation. This day had really been too long for her.

Losing her hearing in her left ear through violent struggle

From the next day onward, she struggled to get into the company every day.

"Struggling to enter the company building was like asking to be hit by the huge company guards. One day, there was a hole in the ground, which might have been for planting a tree, and they dragged me into the hole and stamped on me with their feet wearing walking boots, and my mouth bled.

That was nothing. I lost consciousness seven or eight times. In fact, one or two times, I pretended to lose consciousness in order to avoid the severe beatings. (Laughing).

At that time I was surviving on one bowl of instant noodles every two days. In fact, it is a miracle that I am still alive."

She was laughing but she might have been crying in her heart recalling these sad and hard memories. She also had to battle against the bad impression the company gave of her struggle to the other workers in the workplace, and she was very worried about what they would think about her fight.

Therefore she tried to organize meetings with the workers after her painful day of struggle.

Finally a promotion committee for the democratization of the trade union was established, and she was able conduct a more powerful struggle.

She and her colleagues still managed to hold regular meetings during that hard time and the meetings gave them renewed strength.

Seok Hee Jang, who had to be prepared for another beating every day, managed to keep her strength up through the encouragement she got from her friends.

Four months later, 18 more workers were dismissed and the struggle to enter the company every day became a real war.

"We were so fed up with being hit that we planned to fight back. Then, a military police bus came and we were badly beaten. We really could not forgive them.

Once they dragged us into their military bus and they carried sticks. I blocked their way. Then one of them held onto the bar on the roof of the bus and kicked my chest.

I fell down and was severely beaten. When I came to my senses, I heard a strange sound like a siren in my ear and then I realized that I could not hear anything with my left ear."

From that time onward, anyone who wants to talk to her cannot sit on her left hand side.

Going to the place of struggle wearing a wig

At the end of 1986 a strange thing happened to her. She began to lose her hair. All the doctors she talked to said that this was caused by mental stress and malnutrition. Three months later she had lost all her hair.

She explained that she was not such a good-looking woman anyway and wearing a wig made her really bad-looking. I wondered if I should laugh or cry at her stories about her wig. Let's laugh since she herself is laughing at these painful stories!

In 1987, she had to run a lot on the streets. One day, when they were taking part in a street demonstration a military policeman caught her hair and the wig came off.

The man was too surprised to move and stopped in his tracks. Her friend next to her took the wig back and put it on her head. She looked so funny.

On another day, several military policemen caught her and tried to carry her to their bus. Suddenly her wig came off, and the poor men were so surprised that they dropped her.

Because of this particular incident she still has pain in her waist. There were so many stories about her wig. When the military police used fire hoses on the demonstrators, her wig was taken off by the water.

On another occasion she climbed a wall to get away from the police and her wig was caught on a nail..... So many interesting stories to make us laugh and cry.

"However, I once survived because of my wig. It was during the June People's Struggle. I was with the demonstrators in front of City Hall. I was running, avoiding a number of military policemen. A tear gas bomb hit my head.

Thank God I was wearing a wig or I may not be here with you today. Anyway, the tear gas covered my body. Every part of my body was covered in tear gas. I could not open my eyes.....

Ever since that time I have been allergic to tear gas. A few hours later, lots of egg-sized blisters appeared on all over my body. I was hospitalized for several days. Imagine! I could not eat well before.

During my time in hospital I ate a lot and gained weight. What with the egg-sized blisters, my bald head, and my fat body, it was terrible to see my reflection in the mirror."

She laughed. Her laughing was loud and hearty but it was so painful to hear. Her father came to the hospital. He was usually a very understanding father.

However, it was too much for him to see his daughter in that situation. Why should his daughter be in such a corner, looking so terrible, with her blisters, bald head and all the rest? Did she really have to continue to struggle? ....

However he was the one who persuaded the parents of the dismissed workers to organize. While Jang's mother was waiting for an operation for stomach cancer, he said to his daughter, "I will be responsible for my wife, while you go and do your work."

Therefore she still feels guilty about her mother, who passed away three years ago. She regrets that she could not do better for her mother....

Poor childhood

->Picnic held by Korong Co. trade union / 2nd person on the left side in the first line(1984.10.28)
She was born on June 11, 1959 in Inchon, Kyonggi-do. When she was born, her parents were living with their parents and seven brothers and sisters.

It was a big family. Since there were not many things to eat and their family was really big, she has few memories of eating rice. They fed chickens and pigs and as a result she sometimes ate pork or chicken when one of the animals died of disease.

"When I was nine years old, my parents moved to Samyang-dong, Seoul. At that time I was with my two brothers and my parents. We rented a room.

My father was skilled at many kinds of work and my mother was also very strong. She did all kinds of work like washing clothes, carrying water and so on. However, we were still very poor and we could not bring a lunch box to school.

When my teacher came to know about my situation, she put my name on the list of poor neighbors, and I was given a pile of gifts. This hurt my pride, and I cried a lot after coming home.

I cried out that I would not attend school any more. I was scolded and punished by my parents but I did not go to that school any more."

That experience left her with a pain in her heart and her family had to move house. Fortunately her father got a job in a private library as a guard. Even though they had to live in one room together, they did not starve any more.

However that happy time ended when her relatives moved to her family house. She had to spend her junior high school time in a small room at the private library.

When she was in her last year of senior high school, she had to make a decision about her future and whether she would go to university or not. She decided to help her brother, who is now a reverend of the Brothers' Church, to go to theology college.

She did various kinds of work. She was quite smart and earned good money. She earned a lot and spent a lot. She was once able to live quite a luxurious life.

Dan Moo Ji's life as a worker

"Whatever I did, I could earn good money. However, I quit jobs easily. I wondered what should I do.... At that time I heard some interesting stories from my brother and his friends.

They were involved in the Christian movement. I once met the workers of Dongil Textiles at the Youngdungpo Industrial Church and I was deeply impressed by the cast of their eyes.

It was shocking to hear the workers' situation. I was also influenced by the respected Rev. Hwa Soon Lee.

I thought that there seemed to be lots of problems in the textile industry, and I should try to solve these problems by majoring in textile science.

My nickname is Dan Moo Ji meaning simple, hysterical and pig-headed by nature. I passed an entrance exam in 1983 and became a college student majoring in textile science.

It did not take long for me to realize that it was useless. I only studied for one semester and then left college. Ha, Ha, Ha!"

"Then I started my worker's life. In March, 1984, I entered Korong Co.. At that time, there were a few labor militants already working there and they proposed that we work together."

However, she was reluctant to work with them because their methods of expression and approach were too radical to fit the situation of the workers. She also wanted to have some time to confirm the situation.

She believed that one step by a hundred workers is more valuable than a hundred steps by one worker. She studied the Labor Law and rewrote the flyers in a easier way for her colleagues to understand.

She felt the need to establish a Christian labor movement, and worked as one of the founding members of the Korea Christian Labor Federation.

The judicial precedent of invalid and unjust dismissal

She decided to take her case to court. At that time many people thought that bad laws should be destroyed by violating the law. Therefore some of her friends were not very happy with her idea of filing a suit.

However, she had faith that she could win in court since the Labor Standard Law manifested that her situation had not constituted being fired. It was a very difficult and time-consuming fight.

A year after her struggle to re-enter the company began, her campaigning decreased to 2 or 3 times a week. The company was fed up with her struggle but, the company wondered what was going on if she did not appear.

She was exhausted and really wanted to stop the endless struggle. Furthermore she was often arrested in the demonstrations organized by the Struggle Committee for Restoration of Jobs to Dismissed Workers.

The arrests, interrogations, and detentions continued. She was often lost to imagine the end of the fight. However, she had good friends near her.

"In fact, I started the movement as a dog and have become a human being. (Laughing) My friends always cared for me and we tried to help each other.

So, I was reborn as a humble human being. I could feel that humanity was beautiful through my friends. Most of them lived on W3,000 a month but, they still left tens of thousands won in my room with a warm letter.

My house was always watched and therefore they had to be very courageous to visit my house. I was always wondering if I could have done the same for them. They are so important to me. They are my most valuable property."

Returning to the workplace

On May 7, 1989, Seok Hee Jang and two other workers received the final verdict that their jobs must be restored: "Firing workers on the grounds that the distribution of flyers reduces the productivity of a company is injust". It was a memorable judical precedent.

However two of her friends gave up returning to the workplace and Seok Hee Jang alone had to face the difficult fight in the workplace, where the company spread stories that the dismissed workers were all communists.

"On the first day, when I arrived at the workplace everybody stopped their work and looked at me. I was very tense and nervous. There was no work for me and nobody talked to me. It was very strange and hard to stand.

During lunch time I was too nervous to eat. On the next table, my colleagues were looking at me very concerned expressions. I might have given up if there were no such warm eyes."

After returning to her work, she had to cry alone in the toilet for three months. When she talked about this period her eyes again got red. She had to give strength to her colleagues but it was hard to endure the situation.

She got a salary for doing nothing. At last she decided to think, "Well, if the situation is not going to change, why don't I enjoy it?"

"Whatever and whenever something happened, I ran to help. If some got digestive problems, I massaged her. If someone was seriously sick, I took her to hospital.

If there was hard work, I helped. I did not mind helping an assistant. Sometimes, I completed the work of others in secret to help. Very gradually the relationship with other workers improved.

I tried to do my best in order to be nice, particularly to those who had a bad impression of me. I also tried to approach the strong male workers and to become good friends with them. Finally they came round to our side. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

So the repressive atmosphere gradually changed to a better atmosphere in which she could talk to the other workers. She would not quit. Then she dared ask for a workload in order to receive her salary with pride.

Finally the company began to give her work and she recommenced normal workplace activity. A year later, her union membership was restored and at the end of 1991, she won the election with 87% of the vote and became president of the union.

->With the job trainees in SWWA class
However, the company had already started reforms and planned to move the factory. The former president had already signed the negotiation paper. In August 1994, the factory was closed.

She has kept a hanging which she got as a gift. She has kept in her mind the words on the hanger.

"It is written that if you empty your mind, you will be calm. We should not hold on to greediness. If I could go back to the past and live that experience again, I wouldn't be able to do it. It was that difficult.

However, I now have so good friends who are my life's fortune and taught me what to be grateful for and what being humble is."

She has no desire to marry. She has adjusted to living alone and has no confidence in living under the present marriage system.

Therefore her dream is to create a retirement town where she can live out her golden years with her friends and avoid loneliness.

Nowadays, the Women Workers Associations are gathering the power to establish a national trade union for women workers. Last February, she was elected as national president.

She feels uneasy. She wanted always to be responsible for herself. She hoped to live without any private greediness.

She wants to pass these times fast and looks forward to drinking time. She insists that she is still Dan Moo Ji. I hoped that she could keep her bright smile and left her.



Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Voices from the workplace] We are the workers of this land!

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:25

Voice 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.




Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.20] [Voices from the workplace] Completing the struggle for "Abrogation of the Series System"

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 21. 11:24

Voice from the workplace 2.



Completing the struggle for
"Abrogation of the Series System"




Choon Jae Lee
Director of Women's Dept. of Korea Bank Trade Union







The Series System is a new personnel affairs system introduced by Korea Bank in 1993. The system separates workers into two sections:

general series and ordinary series. The workers under the general series do planning or analysis labor. The workers under the ordinary series do simple and repetitive kinds of work.

The two series have differences in terms of the opportunities for training courses, post arrangements, promotions, and salaries. Most women workers belong to the ordinary series.

In reality this means that women are far from promotion as the workers belonging to the ordinary series can only reach a certain stage of promotion.

However, the workers belonging to the general series can be promoted to a much higher post.

The system has different levels of salaries and limits in transferring working positions from and to the headquarter or branches. There has been much criticism made even within the bank that the system is like a class system. In the process of business restructuring, the workers belonging to the ordinary series were put on the dismissals list for reasons of their supposed "high cost and low effectiveness".

In order to achieve just restructuring and the stabilization of employment, the series system must be abolished.

The Korea Bank trade union conducted a poll targeting all the employees in February 1988 in order to establish the popularity of the new personnel affairs series system. The results of the research were:

17.1% for maintaining the system, 54.3% (50.2% from general series, 67.6% from the ordinary series) for abolishing the system, and 28.7% with no opinion. Based on the results of the research, the trade union set up a team to abolish the system.

The team organized constant roundtable meetings with union members, defined some problems, and continued to work for the improvement of the system.

The team also organized a seminar inviting some outside experts for the internal innovation of the central bank on August 28, 1998. In the seminar, active discussions took place between the bank and union members.

In the beginning of 1998, the restructuring started under the name of honorary retirement. On April 1st, the Office of Bank Supervision and Examination was separated.

The number of employees of the bank steeply decreased. Another poll was conducted in February 1999. In this research, it was confirmed that there were strong demands from the employees for the abolition of the series system (62.1% from general series and 72.55% from ordinary series).

The improvement of the series system became the most essential mission and the president of the union, Mr. Chul Soo Kim expressed his strong will to this end.

The trade union organized an open forum in each of the 35 branches in order to collect the opinions of the members. On May 7th and 8th, the union members from headquarters and branches gathered for a forum. In the forum, they made a resolution and consolidated their will to achieve their aim.

In addition, the union worked for the realization of changes agreed in 1998 management and labor negotiations and has constantly worked through more negotiations. A standing committee was set up and the committee has conducted seven rounds of negotiations.

However there have been lots of difficulties due to the conservative stand of the bank and the strong stand of the union. The negotiations did not go well. The union held a demonstration in front of the new headquarters building on July 16, 1999.

It started at 7pm and lasted until 5am next morning. Over 400 members participated. In the demonstration, members consolidated their strong will to abolish the series system and demanded a fundamental renovation of the personnel affairs system.

From July 19th, each branch conducted a protest demonstration. They wore uniforms and ribbons to illustrate their protest. From July 20, President Chul Soo Lee with some other union leaders began a hunger strike.

In the process of the struggle, the bank tried to divide union members, and some of them began to leave the struggle. In spite of the strong wills affirmed during the demonstration, some union members took off their uniforms and the hunger strike was not expanded.

Some of them understood that the struggle was mainly for the workers belonging to the ordinary series, and they had conflicting feelings. The struggle began to lose its passion.

In spite of the difficulties, the president continued to hunger-strike and the union tried to maintain the standing committee through the changing of some members, and to continue to negotiate with the bank. It was getting very hot and yet the passion of the members was cooling. The union had to make a decision.

At last the union signed the negotiation paper. The contents of the negotiation did not meet all demands of the union members, but it was a victory which led the bank to abolish the new personnel affairs system.

The Korea Bank has provided the framework for a personnel affairs system which can work for every employee in a proper and just way. There are no longer the unfair differences which existed between the general and ordinary series.

The unjust, unequal, and old-fashioned system has been ended by the united struggle of the union members. Now the Korea Bank will be one based on the new personnel affairs system. It is reborn as a central bank for the people of this country.




Korea Working Women's Network 1999
Posted by KWWA
|

티스토리툴바