CINA

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Today in the early morning once again - and not surprising - the S.K. gov't answered the demands of E.Land/New Core/Homever workers with STATE TERROR!

During the extreme violent attack against the sit-in strike in Seoul's Gangnam New Core branch thousands of riot cops arrested at least 190 labour union activists:

Police Crack Down on E-Land Workers (K. Times, 7.31)
 

Thousands of police raided a discount store in southern Seoul Tuesday to disperse workers who have been holding a sit-in strike for the past three days calling for the reinstatement of dismissed non-regular workers and a pay raise.

About 5,000 police officers removed some 200 striking unionized workers from E-Land at around 5 a.m., Monday (likely the reporter means Tuesday^^). Although there were some scuffles initially, the police took the workers to police stations within one hour...

The workers chanted slogans such as ``End discrimination against non-regular workers'' and ``We denounce forced dispersion.''

The police also hauled away five officials from the progressive Democratic Labor Party who had joined the sit-in protest along with the striking workers (please watch a video about the "event" here).

Unionists and labor groups made it clear that they would continue their struggle until their demands are met...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/08/117_7495.html

Related articles/ducumentaries:

☞ 7월31일 오후 교섭 결과 브리핑 (뉴코아-이랜드일반노동조합)

☞ 뉴코아 농성, 결국 전원 강제연행!! (노동의소리)

☞ 뉴코아 강남점 공권력 침탈, 조합원 전원연행 (VoP, incl. several videos)

☞ 경찰, 강남뉴코아 점거농성 강제진압 완료 (OhmyNews article, incl. video)

☞ Police break up E.Land rally (K. Herald)

☞ Police break up second E-Land sit-in (Hankyoreh)

Finally uni global union said in its today's contribution about the E.Land Struggle that..

..E.Land wants to destroy union with government support

 
E.Land is now out to destroy its workers' trade union in what is emerging as one of the dirtiest union-busting campaigns ever seen. In doing this, they are supported by a wavering but friendly and cooperative government, which readily accommodates the company's requests for riot police intervention and repression. The playing field is heavily slanted in the retailer's favour, and many government representatives don't even hide their views that the workers should just accept the mass lay-offs and all other management decisions.
 

An important part of employer strategy has been to lock up the main leaders of its trade union, to weaken the E.Land workers' capacity to negotiate. When their trade union confederation KCTU came in to support the struggle, it was heavily attached by the government and its labour minister as a 'third party' intervention. Apparently, the company and its friends in government had not counted on a broad labour support for the strike. Instead they must have thought that it would be easy to get out of the difficult situation by putting enough pressure on the workers and their workplace and company level union structures.

자본주의 박살내자!

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Today's (conservative) daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported:

Union retakes E.Land outlet in labor fight

Union members of the E.Land Group once again seized the Gangnam branch of New Core Department Store and began a sit-in demonstration, just nine days after police forced them out.

Yesterday, 500 members of E.Land, New Core and other labor groups entered Kim’s Club, a grocery unit located in the basement of New Core, pretending to be shoppers.

 
As Kim’s Club is open 24 hours a day, the union workers stayed until 2:10 a.m., which is when they pushed their shopping carts en masse to the cashier counters, thus blocking the aisles and succeeding in taking over the store.

 
Other labor groups included the umbrella Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has declared an all-out fight against the company over its dismissal of non-regular workers, and the left-wing political group, Hanchongryeon. Regular customers and employees were let out of the building with no particular hassle.
This was the second time E.Land union members were able to take control of the department store. The first 21-day sit-in at the World Cup branch of Homever beginning June 30 and a 13-day sit-in at New Core beginning July 8 ended in police intervention. Both Homever and New Core are affiliates of E.Land.

 
The demonstrations began after E.Land refused to renew contracts for over 700 irregular workers, mostly cashiers, before a revised labor law protecting such workers went into effect on July 1.

Management complained that they were stabbed in the back, since they only received a proposal for negotiations two hours before the demonstration began. As in the earlier protest, they maintain that they will not begin full negotiations until the union moves out of the building.

The union claims that management made a return to protesting inevitable. After the July 20 raid, labor and management met once, but talks were cut off after 30 minutes after disagreements arose about where to negotiate and who could participate.

 
“Since the raid, management has not earnestly participated in negotiations,” said Hong Yoon-kyung, secretary general of E.Land’s labor union. Hong said that they will continue the sit-in for as long as it takes for New Core to withdraw its contract with an outsourced labor firm and guarantee employment to all workers.
E.Land management estimates that 40 billion won ($43.4 million) has been lost so far because of the strikes.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2878599

Yonhap (7.30): "E.Land union members clash with contract workers

hired by the company. Police intervened when the outsourced workers tried to

remove a barricade leading to Kim’s Club at the Gangnam branch of

New Core Department Store in southern Seoul, where the

union resumed a sit-in yesterday morning."

Tomorrow's K. Herald will publish following stuff:

Police poised to bust up E.Land sit-in 
 

Police were yesterday set to storm an E.Land outlet to end a sit-in by company workers and labor activists.

About 370 protesters occupied the underground section of the retailer's New Core outlet in southern Seoul on Sunday, demanding the release of arrested union leaders and the scrapping of the temporary workers law.

Seoul police yesterday held an emergency meeting to discuss a response to the occupation, which came nine days after police dispersed on July 20 union workers who had been holed up at two branches of the retailer for weeks.

"The timing of enforcement will depends on further developments there," a senior Seoul police officer told reporters.

Tensions were escalating near the New Core branch in Gangnam. More than 1,000 non-union E.Land workers and about 1,200 vendors in the New Core store gathered in and outside the building, calling on the unionists to leave the place.

They briefly clashed with about 300 protest supporters, including members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and civic group activists, in the afternoon.

https://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/07/31/200707310036.asp

But hundreds of activists are fighting for VICTORY!!

☞ 0730 뉴코아 강남점 새벽 풍경 (P. Times..)

☞ 7.30 강남 뉴코아아울렛 농성장 주변모습 (..pics and video)

☞ 뉴코아 강남점, 공권력 투입 임박 (VoP, incl. 3 videos)

☞ "점거 풀리자 손배가압류... 다시 농성할 수밖에" (OhmyNews)

☞ Supermarket occupation re-starts in Korea (UNI)

In the morning Hong Gil-dong wrote about last night's situation:

밤시간엔 농성투쟁 엄호사수 대오가 있는 뉴코아 건물 바깥 수백 대오가 모여 있는 곳 가까이에서
구사대가 격렬(?)히 집회 아인 집회를 밤 9시 넘어까지 하고 해산했습니다.
새벽 이 시간에도 바깥엄호대오들은 밤샘노숙농성으로 킴스 건물 안 농성대오를 엄호하고 있습니다.
오늘 하루가 또 어찌 전개될지 알 수 없습니다. 이랜드자본이 무릎꿇을 날이 얼마남지 않은 만큼
모든 동지들이 놓여있는 상황과여러 조건들이 어렵더라도
이 투쟁 승리할 때까지 끝까지 연대하고 함께 투쟁해서 비정규직 철폐의 그 길을 앞당기도록 합시다!

About the situation on the spot in the afternoon:

현재 뉴코아아울렛신관과 킴스클럽매장이 연결된 지하1층 매장통로에 전경을 사이에 두고 용역깡패와 구사대가 침탈을 시도하고 있습니다.

매장통로 사이에는 카트로 만든 바리케이트 외에는 아무것도 없으며, 어제의 도발보다 더 심하게 용역깡패와 구사대들이 난동을 피우며, 농성내부의 대오를 끌어내라며 경찰을 자극하고 있습니다.

농성장안에는 여성조합원이 대다수이며, 카트로 만든 바리케이트 외에 아무것도 없다는 점에서 침탈위협이 상당합니다.

연대대오의 연대가 절실합니다.
지금당장 강남점 킴스클럽 앞으로 모여주십시오.

이랜드 투쟁 승리!
자본주의 박살내자!

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Latest news about the struggle/strike against E.Land (Homever/New Core) capitalists:

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Related:

☞ Korean hostage crisis (CNN video, 7.27)

☞ Does Korea really see the world as it is? (Hankyoreh, 7.26)

☞ Afghan hostage crisis transfixes South Korea (IHT, 7.26)

PS:

Few days ago Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman of the Taliban, said the 'resistance fighters' know well the 23 Korean Christians visited Afghanistan in order to convert pure Muslims to Christianity, according to New York Times. "If they were not women, they would have been killed when captured," Ahmadi said.

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The S. K. gov't is planning a new wave of massive crackdown against so-called unducumented migrant workers, beginning next month (☞ 이주노조/MTU 제안) 
To made it public MTU held y'day in front of Seoul's Immigration Office in Mok-dong a press conference. There MTU also announced a mass demonstration (*) for 8.19 (2 pm, in front of Seoul Stn.) to protest against the planned new wave of crackdown.

25일 오전 11시 서울 출입국관리사무소 앞에서 미등록이주노동자 집중단속 방침 철회를 촉구하는 기자회견이 있었다.

이주노동자차별철폐와 인권·노동권 실현을 위한 공동행동 (이하 이주공동행동) 이 주최한 이 기자회견은 법무부가 고용허가제 시행 3년째가 되는 8월 1일부터 12월 말까지 대대적인 집중 단속을 실시한다는 방침을 밝힌 것에 대한 항의 행동이었다.
기자회견에는 이주공동행동에서 함께 활동하고 있는 단체들이 적극적으로 참여해 무려 110여 명이 함께했다.

이주공동행동은 이번 기자회견을 시작으로 이주노동자 집중 단속에 항의하는 전국적인 캠페인을 지역과 거리에서 진행하고 8월 19일에는 서울역 광장에서 대규모 도심 집회를 열 계획이다.

Source: 다함께

Source of the pics: ..지영동지

* 고용허가제 3년 규탄 및 단속추방 중단·이주노동자 인권·노동권 쟁취 결의대회
일시 : 8월 19일 오후 2시
장소 : 서울역 광장

For more please read (in Korean^^):

‘전국의 출입국사무소 앞 항의행동과 기자회견 시작예정' (이주노동자방송국)

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The KTX Crew Workers’ Branch Union’s (철도노조 KTX승무지부) struggle is the longest and most bitterly waged fight by women workers in the history of Korea.  For over 500 days, women who work as train attendants on the KTX bullet trains have held public rallies and marches, occupied buildings, lectured in classrooms, and conducted outreach on the streets and at train stations throughout the country.  But until now KORAIL is refusing to meet the union’s demands for gender equality, safe working conditions and contracted employment.

So the KTX workers' union published already some days ago (7.13) following..

URGENT APPEAL for INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

On March 1, 2006, approximately four hundred women who work as train attendants (similar to flight attendants) on the KTX “bullet train” began a strike to demand the end of discriminatory and unjust outsourcing practices of the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL).  KORAIL officials led KTX women workers to believe that although they were initially hired under short-term contracts via an external company, they would be granted permanent status as direct employees of KORAIL after one year.  However, the KTX Crew Workers Branch Union’s demands for direct and permanent employment have yet to be met.

To date, the KTX Crew Workers’ Branch Union’s struggle is the longest and most bitterly waged fight by women workers in the history of Korea.  For over 500 days, women who work as train attendants on the KTX bullet trains have held public rallies and marches, occupied buildings, lectured in classrooms, and conducted outreach on the streets and at train stations throughout the country.  KORAIL’s continued refusal to meet the union’s demands for gender equality, safe working conditions and secure employment have led union leaders to engage in desperate measures to expose the unjust and unequal conditions under which they are forced to work.  After exhausting every tactic, 31 union members began a hunger strike on July 2, 2007.  As the hunger strike surpasses its 14th day, many union members have been rushed to the hospital.

Despite KTX’s sleek and high-tech image as the fifth fastest “bullet train” in the world, it is the site of blatant sexism and labor abuse.  Of those train attendants who are irregularly employed under outsourcing agreements, the majority are women.  In contrast, their male counterparts who perform comparable duties are directly employed by KORAIL as “team leaders.”  Simply by being women, KTX train attendants are subject to lower wages, harsher working conditions, and heightened job insecurity.  In addition, women workers face the perpetual threat of dismissal if they speak out against unfair conditions and sexual harassment in the workplace. 

According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, KORAIL’s treatment of KTX female train attendants is a clear example of gender discrimination and a basic violation of human rights.  The National Human Rights Commission has strongly recommended that striking KTX women workers be granted fair and just conditions of employment.  The South Korean Minister of Labor, the legal community, various media outlets, 500 university professors, 300 members of the literary community and a wide cross section of NGOs including the Korea Women’s Association United, Lawyers for Democratic Society, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Korea Women Workers Association United, and the People’s Coalition for Media Reform have also called upon KORAIL to reinstate the striking workers as directly hired employees, not as contingent workers contracted through a third party. However, KORAIL continues to disregard this overwhelming public outcry.

KORAIL, the nation’s largest public enterprise and employer of over 30,000 people, refuses to abide by the most basic and fundamental standards of fairness and equality.  KORAIL’s actions violate South Korean laws that prohibit all forms of discrimination, as well as international standards established by the ILO to protect the rights of workers. KORAIL is also failing to comply with the international standards that the company itself pledged to uphold when it joined the UN Global Compact in May 2007.

KORAIL’s blatant violation of the basic principles of democracy and human rights deserve international criticism.  KORAIL’s actions are indicative not only of the pervasive inequality facing contingent workers in South Korea, but also of systemic gender discrimination in South Korea.  We urge the international community to stand in solidarity with the KTX Crew Workers in its brave fight for justice. We respectfully request your signature on this petition letter in support of the KTX women workers. This letter will be sent to President Roh Moo-hyun and UN Secretariat General Ban Ki-moon, as well as the CEO of KORAIL.

Source: LabourStart/Global Voice for Justice

Related:

☞ KTX Workers' Struggle. A Slide Show (with English subtitles)

☞ "숨바꼭질" 300 Days of Struggle (video docu by Hong Gil-dong, Korean)

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Before y'day (7.22) MTU, together with many solidarity groups/activists celebrated comrade Anwar Hossain's (former chairman of MTU) "Farewell Party". On Thursday (7.26), after almost 11 years exploited and oppressed in S. Korea - he had to spend even one year in immigration detention center - he will go back home to Bangladesh. 

22일 연세대학교 학생회관 3층 푸른샘에서
아노아르 동지의 환송회가 있었습니다.

이주노동자들의 자신들의 조직인 이주노조를 만들어지고
초대 위원장으로 아노아르 동지,
정말이지 헌신적이고 열정적인 활동으로
여러동지들, 연대 단위들, 우리 운동에
많이 기여해 주었습니다.

표적연행되어 1년여간 보호소에 갇혀서도
힘있고 단호하게 싸웠기 때문에
함께 싸우는 사람들이 용기얻어 단호하게 싸울 수 있었습니다.

귀국을 앞두고, 명동성당에 들러 몇시간이고 있다가 왔다는 아노아르 동지,
한국에서 멋진 모습, 직접 보면서 활동할 수 없어 아쉽기는 하지만
우리는 국제 운동의 일부니까요,
어디에서든,
함께 싸우고 있을 겁니다.
동지의 모습 떠올리며 용감하게
이주노동자들의 인권과 노동권 쟁취하는 그날까지
'함께' 싸우고 있겠습니다.

건강하세요.

(Source: 버리동지 on MTU)

Following just some (photo) impressions about the event:

 (Source: 아노아르환송회, incl. many more pics.)

Related:

☞ "자리를 옮기는 것 뿐입니다" (Interview with Anwar, by Chamsesang)

☞ Urgent appeal campaign for Anwar同志 (2005.6.09)

☞ 나를 연행한 것은 노동운동 탄압이다! (video by Hong Gil-dong, 2005.5.16)

Anwar behind bars - Immigration Detention Center,

summer 2005

Update (7.25):

Today's Hankyoreh published following article:

Life is still difficult for migrant workers in Korea

 
Migrant workers’ union founder makes the difficult decision to leave, following years of fighting for the rights of migrant workers
 
 
A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man came to South Korea in May 1996, leaving nine brothers and sisters in his homeland. As he had only obtained a 3-month tourist visa, he was not allowed to work legally in Korea. However, he got a job at a plastic factory in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, with the help of a broker. He had initially thought, “I will stay here for three years at the most and return to my homeland after earning a lot of money.” Now, ten years have passed. The young man who had been dreaming the “Korean dream” has become a fighter via the stark realities of his tough life here. He is determined to make a world in which all laborers are treated as human beings regardless their nationality.

Anoar Hussein, 36, who established the Migrants’ Trade Union, the nation’s first trade union for migrant workers, in April 2005, will return to Bangladesh on July 26. He has made this difficult decision because it has not been easy for him to extend his visa and he can to take better care of himself in his homeland. He has had to suffer a great deal of hardship since coming to live in Seoul.

These days, he is concerned about the South Korean government’s plans to crack down on undocumented migrant workers in August. “I am so sorry that I am leaving a situation in which I have many things to do. It is even more burdensome to leave Korea than it was to come here,” he said.

When he first joined the migrant workers’ campaign, he did not intend to found a movement, but living and working in an environment in which he has often suffered from abuse and ill treatment has caused him to want to stand up for his rights and those of the people around him. “I worked hard at a fabric factory in Seongsu-dong for over 12 hours a day, but I only received 700,000 won (US$ 765) a month. Sometimes, I didn’t get my wages for three months,” he said. Though he and those he met near the factory where he worked were of different nationalities and often faced a language barrier, they were easily united through their common cause. “We just wanted to be treated like human beings,” they said. Thus began his fight.

Following implementation of the Employment Permit System in 2003, the government has granted legal status to just 227,000 foreigners and urged the remaining 120,000 undocumented foreign residents to leave the country immediately. The government then deported over 100,000 undocumented workers.

In November of the same year, approximately 100 foreign workers, including Hussein, staged a sit-in under a tent at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral in downtown Seoul calling for the government to stop forcefully repatriating foreign workers and legalize undocumented laborers at once. The demonstration lasted for 380 days. “I was impressed by the South Korean students and citizens who supported us. I stopped thinking that all South Koreans were same and that it was useless to fight,” he said. The struggle led to the founding of the Migrants’ Trade Union.

However, it has not been easy. Despite the fact that the court has declared that undocumented foreign workers do have the right to form unions, the Ministry of Labor has still not recognized this right.

Hussein established the labor union for foreign workers in April 2005 and became its first leader, but was arrested by the police 20 days after the union was launched and imprisoned at Cheongju Immigration Office for a year. During that time he was monitored 24 hours a day and lost 8 kilograms. “I was so displeased with the behavior of my fellow inmates and I thought of committing a suicide almost everyday,” he said. For some time after he was released, he had to receive mental treatment, he added.

When he returns to Bangladesh, he will continue to work in the labor and social movements, building upon his experiences in South Korea. “I haven’t given up on seeking rights for migrant workers in South Korea. Wherever I am, people will be able to meet me through the international solidarity of the social justice movement,” he said.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/224718.html

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E.Land/Homever Capitalists: The Strike

is a Result of "Devil's Temptation"!!

It seems that after the (first???) massive wave of STATE TERROR against the striking workers of E.Land/Homever is over, the capitalists and their collaborators (for example in the S.K. media) declared a psychological warfare/"PSYCHO TERROR" against the labour union (KCTU) activists.

Korea Times reported today that:
 

"The nation’s major retailer E-Land Group is suspected of sending hateful e-mail to its unionized workers who are in protest over the management’s massive layoff of non-regular workers. In the e-mail, the writer compared its striking workers’ protest to an action caused by devil’s temptation."

And it continued:

According to the company’s labor union Sunday, hundreds of unionized workers received the e-mail which was sent under the name of Kim Young-soo, the president of E-Land World, an affiliate of the group.

In the e-mail, Kim asked workers to pray three times a day, so that ``striking workers repent before the God and never get tempted by devil again.’’ The writer also said that they should pray so that ``the God can make union leaders get arrested’’ and ``workers do their best as faithful servants who do not complain about their salaries.’’..

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/07/117_7024.html

And the reactionary Chosun Ilbo agitated today extreme aggressive:

The KCTU Hurts Workers' Interests

 
In retaliation against the use of police to break up an illegal sit-in by contract workers at discount retailer E-Land, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has announced a full-blown battle against the company, including a campaign to boycott its products. On Saturday, the KCTU held protest rallies in front of E-Land stores across the country, demanding the release of union members who have been arrested. The KCTU vowed to continue its boycott until July 27. The New Core outlet branch in southern Seoul as well as 29 stores across the country had to halt business for one to two hours. Because the KCTU had interfered in the labor dispute at E-Land, an amicable solution between management and the non-regular workers has become impossible and police had to intervene.

 
During earlier talks, management at E-Land had accepted a majority of the union’s demands, including an end to outsourcing cashiers, while rehiring those who had already been reclassified as being employed by outsourcing companies. But the union refused to back off even one step from its original demands, including the rehiring of outsourced workers within a month. That’s because the KCTU’s objective has nothing to do with improving the working conditions of E-Land non-regular workers. The KCTU just wanted to use the E-Land situation as a rallying cause for its fight for all non-regular workers.

Just like during the GS Caltex strike in 2004 or the POSCO Engineering & Construction strike in 2006, whenever the KCTU interferes, scores of workers lose their jobs, many of them end up being jailed, and their companies are hit hard as well. In other words, everyone loses whenever the KCTU steps in.

Launching its boycott of E-Land products, the KCTU said it would be a fight to see whether the company closes down or the KCTU lowers its banner once and for all. If E-Land closes down, both regular and non-regular workers will lose their jobs. Yet the KCTU has vowed to fight until the company goes broke and it’s doing it in the name of E-Land workers. If the unionists of E-Land want to live, they will have no choice but to turn their backs on the KCTU.

 
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200707/200707230024.html

But while the capitalist class is trying to smash the labour union's activities, there's also an international solidarity! For example by

☞ E.Land workers in Korea
fight for their jobs and families

Related:

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).. launched campaign to boycott E-Land products in protest against management’s layoff of non-regular workers and the government’s crackdown on striking workers

7.21, the first day of boycott against E.Land

  
   ``E-Land, which is anti-labor and anti-social, has no longer the right to operate as a company. We will continue our full-fledged campaign to boycott the company’s products to force it out from the market,’’ said Lee Sok-haeng, chairman of the KCTU. ``We will also keep demanding the government apologize for its crackdown on workers who fight for their rights to live.’’.. (K. Times, 7.23)

☞ 폭력 진압 이후 이랜드 매출 제로 투쟁, 29 매장 스톱 (P. Times, 7.21/incl. video)

☞ E.Land dispute escalates after crackdown on sit-in (Hankyoreh)

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December 2001 - short after the ("official") destruction of the Taliban rule by the US/NATO forces the West promised the people of Afghanistan: "PEACE, FREEDOM, DEVELOPMENT, PROSBERITY.."

Now, just two month ago (5.29) and nearly six years later  the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published following smal excerpt of the daily reality in Afghanistan:

Opium abuse harming women’s, children’s health

Sadaf started consuming opium seven years ago after she could not find any medicine to overcome a headache that had bothered her for weeks. “When I first smoked opium I felt dizzy for a while, but did not have a headache - so I continued,” the mother of four told IRIN in the Yamgan District of Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakshan province.

Sadaf smokes locally produced opium with a tiny hookah three times a day with her children huddled around her. In the intoxicating atmosphere of the mud hut filled with opium smoke there is no chattering by her children; they look dazed and silent.

 Sadaf and Bibi Mullah smoke opium thrice a day

Grabbing the head of her four-year-old son who has pneumonia, the mother puts a blowback of smoke into his mouth and puffed a second breath at his face. “I do this to make him calm and sleep well,” Sadaf said to justify her actions.

 
Fanila Zaki, a health worker in Badakhshan, said many such children suffer from acute respiratory diseases caused by frequent exposure to opium smoke.

“Some mothers think when their children do not cry and sleep they are fine,” said Zaki, “but that is simply incorrect and misleading”.

High maternal mortality

With some 1,600 mothers dying per 100,000 births, Afghanistan has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, officials at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office in Kabul said.

In Badakhshan, 6,500 mothers out 100,000 die while giving birth - the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, the UN agency says.

Opium abuse exacerbates the situation, specialists say. Women who consume opium during pregnancy lose much of their energy and become vulnerable to different diseases, the provincial health department reported.

“Most addicted mothers suffer from asthma, coughing and lung problems which make them very weak to endure the burden of pregnancy,” a local health worker said.

Health workers say some addicted mothers also loose the chance of a future pregnancy because opium addiction damages their uterus.

Financial burden

I sold my land in order to afford my addiction. 
Addiction has put a heavy financial burden on many poor families, plunging them deeper into poverty and social insecurity.

“I’ve been spending 200 Afghani [US$4] on opium every day for the past seven years. I sold my land in order to afford my addiction,” another addicted woman, Bibi Mullah, said.

Badakhshan, one of Afghanistan’s most isolated, underdeveloped and poverty-stricken provinces, has a rugged terrain that impedes movement in its sparsely populated districts.

There is no official data about the number of drug addicts in Badakhshan. However, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says one million people have drug addiction problems in Afghanistan of which 45,000 are women.

Poor health service

According to Mohammad Alim Yaqoobi, head of the UNODC office in Badakhshan, the majority of people in Badakhshan lack access to health services and awareness about the harm of opium addiction.

“People tend to consume opium as a painkiller. It takes time until they actually realise that opium itself is a disease and that they are addicted to it,” added Yaqoobi.

Locals in the district say if health services were provided they would not use opium as a substitute for medicine.

In Yamgan and many other districts of Badakshan, donkeys are the only means of transport for the locals. A resident of Jokhan village in Yamgan District needs two days, either on foot or by donkey, to reach the nearest medical facility. Opium is thus considered a readily available option.

UNODC has been working in Badakhshan to raise the awareness of local population about the risks associated with opium addiction.

However, given the high rate of illiteracy in the estimated 900,000 population of Badakhshan, it is very difficult to maintain a robust public information campaign. Some 3,730 opium-addicted individuals who had received treatment in Badakhshan resumed opium consumption shortly after the rehabilitation, according to UNODC.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72419

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Already yesterday the S.K. gov't. - i.e. the power instrument of the ruling (capitalist) class - promised, better said threatened to "solve" the E.Land strike in behalf of the capitalists. And only few hours later they fulfilled their "promise"/THREAT by using STATE TERROR!!

(BTW.. I'm sure that the coming, likeley conservative govt. will/can not act worse than the present "progressive" gov't.!!) "Thousands of riot police stormed the two E.land Group outlets in Seoul.." Korea Herald reported today.

Police End E-land Strike (K. Times, 7.20)

Police cracked down on striking union workers at the nation’s major retailer E-Land Group, Friday.

The workers held a sit-in Friday for the 21st day in the Homever outlet in Sangam-dong, and the 14th day in the New Core outlet in Gangnam _ to protest the massive dismissal of non-regular workers.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested protestors at the two outlets by dispatching 7,000 policemen to the sites.

When police arrived nearly 9:35 a.m., 140 employees at New Core in Gangnam District and 80 others at Homever outlet in Sangam-dong folded their arms and began resisting arrest by lying on the floor, leading to fierce scuffles between the protestors and police. However, within one hour, all of them were taken to the police station.

About 200 members of the major labor group Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and family members of the protestors denounced the government’s use of police force by holding an overnight demonstration. Lawmakers Sim Sang-jeong, Roh Hoe-chan, Cheon Young-se and Kwon Young-kil at the progressive Democratic Labor Party visited the outlets and strongly protested against the police for its crackdown.

 sources of the pics: OhmyNews

``The government’s use of police force in dealing with E-Land situation, which symbolizes the problems of the government’s new labor bill on non-regular workers, is of no use in reaching a desirable solution. We should congregate our efforts to revise the bill, since it is an evil law that only accelerates financial polarization of the society,’’ said Dan Byung-ho, a lawmaker at the party.

Despite constant negotiations, the union and management failed to narrow their differences over employment security, salaries, upgrading non-regular workers to regular employees and management's lawsuit against the union.

Labor Minister Lee Sang-soo warned Wednesday that the government would use police intervention if illegal protests become persistent.

E-Land laid off more than 900 non-regular employees at Homever and New Core before the country's new labor law regarding them took effect this month, provoking the protest by the union.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/07/117_6881.html

Related:

☞ Unions call for boycott after police end sit-in (JoongAng Ilbo)

☞ Police crack down on E-Land strike (Hankyoreh)

☞ Riot police bust up E.Land sit-ins (K. Herald, 7.20)

☞ STATE TERROR & WORKERS' RESISTANCE (video by Chamsesang)

☞ 이랜드매장 점거농성 노조원 강제연행.., but 후폭풍 거세질듯 (P. Times..)

☞ 상암기자회견 - 노무현 정권의 비참한 말로를 선언한다!! (..incl. video)

☞ 홈에버 농성자 연행, 그 숨가빴던 40분 (OhmyNews)

☞ "오늘 노무현대통령 실수한 겁니다" (노동의소리)

☞ 이랜드.. 농성장 경찰력 투입을 강력히 규탄한다. (MTU statement)

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