공지사항
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- '노란봉투'캠페인/국제연대..
- no chr.!
27개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Y'day (1.30), the (South)Korean Metal Workers Union staged a 4 hour strike, demanding
▶ Abolition of mass layoffs
▶ Regularization of illegally subcontracted workers
▶ Smash of union busting
▶ Withdrawal of lawsuit for compensation of damage
To support KMWU's strike, KCTU held rallies in Seoul (Hanjin Heavy Industry HQ), Busan (Central Railway Station), Ulsan (Hyundai Pylon Sit-in Venue), and Gwang-ju(Regional Labour Office).
In Seoul, at 4 o'clock, about 2,500 KCTU members and KMWU striking workers gathered in front of Hanjin Headquarter and suddenly took the street to march. The police failed to block the marchers who were determined to follow the will of their deceased colleagues and strong enough to go through the police line...
In Busan, after the rally in front of the central railway station, 1,700 members of KMWU (Hanjin Heavy Industry Local Branch) who lost their colleague Choe Gang-seo and his family members marched from the funeral hall to Hanjin Yeong-do Shipyard with his coffin. They arrived in the Democracy Square inside the shipyard and sit down to ask the employer to take a responsibility on his death. The police blocked up the main gate of the shipyard to prevent union members from bringing freezer truck and dry ice needed to keep his body. The police used tear gas and clubs against Choe's family members and colleagues when they entered the shipyard.
(text and pics: KCTU)
Related reports:
☞ 금속노조 파업 결의대회...“정치권에 기대 말라” (NewsCham, 1.30)
☞ 시퍼렇게 살아있네 (Metal Worker, 1.31)
Solidarity Food Tent to Support the "Gangjeong Angels"
An activist’s mother started to raise funds for activists’ fines with her traveling food stall
Oh Yeong-ae, mother of the young female video maker Kim Gami has recently started a nationwide-traveling street food stall, to raise funds for young activists’ fines.
About 15 activists have recently gotten the court decision of fines, minimum 3 to 4 million won(USD 2760-3680) for each, for their protests to stop the construction trucks in front of gates.
As the trials and fines against activists are rapidly increasing, the issue to solve the matter of fines has become a big issue in the village. A supporting group, 'Friends og Gangjeong', that launched last December is collecting funds for activists’ fines’ as well. But the amount will just increase by more coming trials...
Hearing that those young activists are making the decision for prison labor since they can’t afford fines and seeing her daughter’s suffering from the pain of her friends, Gami’s mother decided to raise funds for them by opening a traveling street food stall (more detailed info about the traveling schedule, menu etc. you'll get here). [Text by Choi Sung-hee]
Here you can (MUST!!) see a really beautiful photo essay by Lee Woo-ki...
Related article:
☞ 강정 수호천사 돕기 '힐링 포장마차' 출발 (서울의소리, 1.29)
Y'day afternoon(KST) comrade Hong Jong-in(KMWU)...
..."celebrated", together with hundreds of other labour activists, his 100s day of sit-in struggle(*) on top of an underpass in Ansan(about 100km southwest of Seoul)...
* The Hankyoreh(2012.11.25) wrote the following about his struggle:
Someone is dangling from a 5m high underpass next to the Yoosung Enterprise Co. (YPR) factory in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. On top of the underpass is an eight-lane highway; below it is a four-lane road. The bridge is always jittery from the cargo trucks that constantly roar by above and below. Tied by rope to the bridge railing is a plywood platform that measures 2m long and 1m wide. This is the site of Hong Jong-in’s aerial protest. Hong, 39, is leader of the YPR Ansan chapter of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union.
“A parliamentary audit revealed in October that the shutting down of the workplace last year was an illegal attempt by the company and Changjo Consulting to bust the union,” explained Hong. “Despite that, no one from management has been punished for breaking the law.” Starting in May 2011, the union filed 23 complaints about the company’s unfair treatment of workers with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, but the case was not sent to the public prosecutors until September 2012. Who knows when the investigation will be completed and a decision made? For Hong, who has been demanding that the company be punished, there was no alternative to the aerial protest.
Related article:
☞ KMWU exposes Yoosung union busting strategy (IMF, 2011.5.28)
Last Saturday (1.26) in the morning under the motto...
"Once Again: Let's Create Hope!"
... the 2nd stage of the new 'Hope Bus' campaign started and led - despide freezing temperatures - hundreds of activists to Pyeongtaek(Ssangyong pylon sit-in struggle)...
...and to the industrial city of Ulsan:
Related articles:
☞ 쌍용차로 향한 희망버스… “朴, 국정조사 외면할 경우 용서하지 않을 것 (VOP, 1.26)
☞ 한 희망이 다른 희망에게... "쌍용차 국정조사는 그 출발" (OMN, 1.26)
☞ 쌍용차 철탑농성장으로 향한 희망버스 (NewsCell, 1.26)
Solidarity with the Protest of Hyundai Workers in Ulsan!
Since 100 days(!!) two labor activists - one official of the temporary workers' union of Hyundai Motors and the other a former 'irregular' worker at the automaker - are now in sit-in strike on a power supply post...
The protest began last year on Oct. 17 when Choe Byeong-seung and Cheon Ui-bong ascended a 50-meter electrical pylon near the Myeongchon Gate of Hyundai Motor’s factory in Ulsan. Choe, 36, was previously dismissed from his position as an in-house subcontractor employee at Hyundai Motor. Cheon, 31, is secretary-general of the temporary worker union’s Hyundai Motor chapter. By staging protest, workers hope to finally resolve illegal dispatch worker issue(here you can read a detailed article).
Related and almost daily updated articles/reports about the class struggle in S. Korea(incl. the pylon sit-in strike in Ulsan) you'll get here(LabourStart)!!
Today's Hankyoreh published the following editorial:
After four years, Yongsan disaster is still unsolved
Jan. 20 was the fourth anniversary of the Yongsan disaster. On that day, the People’s Committee for Commemorating the Fourth Anniversary of the Yongsan Disaster was established to remember the tragedy visited the gravesites of the victims at Moran Park in Gyeonggi Province. At the cemetery, they held a service to bring peace to the troubled souls of those who passed away.
On Jan. 19, the group visited the former site of Namildang Building, where the disaster took place in 2009. They held a ceremony for the victims there. After this, they went to the plaza at Seoul Station to take part in a memorial service. (More detailed info, incl. pics, you'll get here!)
The Yongsan disaster, as it is known today, refers to a confrontation that took place at the Namildang Building on Hangang Street in the Yongsan district of Seoul. Evicted residents had seized control of the building and were holding a sit-in protest in a temporary structure on the roof. When the police attempted to break up the protest, the structure caught fire, and five of the protestors and one member of the police SWAT team died in the blaze.
Eight people were put in prison as a result of this incident. Two of them were released on parole last year, but the remaining six are still behind bars. While people continue to demand that the government find out what really happened, punish those who were responsible, release and pardon the convicted residents, and revise the law on forced eviction, four years later the wounds have yet to heal.
The awful events that took place in Yongsan were ultimately the result of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s policies that focused on redevelopment and government-sanctioned violence. When the container filled with police officers landed on the roof of the Namildang Building in the early hours of Jan. 20, 2009, the evicted residents had only been in the temporary structure for one day. It was also only two days since Kim Seok-ki had been promoted to commissioner of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Facing the global financial crisis, the Lee administration rushed to engage in a variety of redevelopment projects including the so-called “new town” housing developments. Time and time again, residents were forcibly evicted from their homes.
The tragedy is still unfolding today, at least in the sense that the details of what really happened that morning have not been disclosed. While the court may have rendered its verdict, plenty of questions remain about the prosecution’s role in the indictment. Another sense in which the Yongsan disaster is continuing today is the fact that hired thugs continue to be employed in city renewal projects.
The time after an election when a new government comes to power provides us an ideal opportunity to tend to and heal the wounds suffered under the previous administration. And indeed, the Yongsan disaster is a wound that Lee allowed to fester for four long years. The residents took up their positions in the temporary shelter to protect their livelihood, but in the end some lost their lives while others have spent years in prison. Looking at the situation from the perspective of the victims and their families, we can see how a tragedy like this would drive one to despair. Of course, adding even further to the tragedy is the fact that a police officer lost his life during the crackdown on the protestors.
If president-elect Park Geun-hye hopes to unify Korean society, she must not ignore the Yongsan disaster. Of course, there are differing views in Korea today on what happened in Yongsan. But that does not excuse us from the responsibility to address the suffering of the victims. The healing process will only begin when we listen to the cries of sadness and betrayal of the victims and their families. We must listen to their stories and give serious thought to what kind of solution society can offer them. Only by doing this can we shorten the time necessary to unify Korean society.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/570569.html
Related article:
☞ "They Killed My Family, Yet It's Still a Vacant Lot..." (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 1.16)
PS: A collection of (English) articles and reports(audio & video) related to the Yongsan Massacre(i.e. "Yongsan disaster"), resp. the resistance against the Yongsan "redevelopment" project, you'll find here!
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