5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Seoul's ongoing/planned mad and destructive "Redevelopment Project" got its next - allegedly "defenseless"(*) - victims: (likely) thousands of (mainly very poor) street vendors, as today's (bourgeois) Korea Herald reports:
Vendors driven off the streets of Seoul
Seoul City recently stepped up efforts to clean itself of disorderly street vendors, and those making their daily living in the streets seem to be paying the price.
As part of its ambitious plan to redesign the city, Seoul has come up with a set of reinforced guidelines on the street vendors.
All street vendors who sell food, accessories or other goods have been obligated to standardize their cart to a fixed size, costing around 3 million won ($2,381). Though district offices financed 1 million won per seller, most had to loan the remaining amount.
"These expensive standard carts do have better facilities, but the heating and lighting are way too costly, so are not of much use to me," said Kim Sung-joo, a snack vendor in Jongno.
From next March vendors will also be charged for occupying the streets, based on the city's attempts to convert the under-the-table street selling to an official business category.
"The very reason many people would start off a vending cart in the streets is because they cannot afford the rent for a real store," said Kim Jeong-gwon, an accessory vendor in Gangnam.
"Charging further fees to such people literally means depriving them of their means of living."
In some of the districts, an entire cluster of such street vendors were moved from their original location under the city's orders.
Last month, more than 100 street vendors along the Jongno streets were moved to the backstreets near Changgyeong Palace under Seoul's city redesigning project.
"Street businesses naturally form in the most crowded districts," said Kim.
"The city cannot naively expect that they will do just as well when moved to another neighborhood. This is not like rearranging one's things in one's room."
Though Seoul City is actively promoting the Changgyeong Palace area as a new tourist spot, it is still short of weekend visitors, and most of the sellers are thus experiencing a drastic sales deficit, he said.
Well-to-do Gangnam-gu has also removed most of the street vendors from its main streets over the past year.
The Gangnam subway station district, located between the neighboring Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, shows a clear contrast.
"The Gangnam-gu side of the street is almost clear of all street selling, especially the food-selling carts," said Lee Myung-jin, 26, a frequent visitor in the area. "Most of the carts and stalls have been either removed or moved to the inner streets."
Some were also forced to move further away from the Gangnam station crowd.
"I am now making less than half the money I used to make around Gangnam Station," said a snack seller, who was shoved to a relatively secluded spot in Nonhyeon-dong, outside of the commercial quarters.
City officials, however, remain determined to maintain a clean and orderly streetscape.
"These randomly placed street businesses do not only disturb pedestrians but also are threats to public safety as they may block police cars or fire trucks in emergencies," said an official of the Dongdaemun-gu office.
Citizen responses varied.
"I understand that Seoul, as a metropolitan city which it came to be, needs to have certain rules and orders in the streets, and thus cannot just neglect these vendors," said Lee Jin-young, a 31-year-old public servant.
"It is nevertheless quite irresponsible for the city to force the consequences on these working class people and not to offer sufficient support."
Some also said they missed the coziness of the street foods and goods.
"Seoul is not all about modernity and its 'other sides' should also be respected as they are," said Park Ji-hye, a university student.
"I personally feel deprived of my souvenirs, with all the tteokbokki carts driven away from the streets."
Whereas some others agree with the city's plans, in terms of safety and city designs, it is the general opinion that an active support is needed to prevent street vendors from additional debts.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/12/11/200912110028.asp
* because "they're just on the bottom end of the society", as the S.K. ruling class assumes... But they (the current "rulers") should remember following:
☞ 2003.11.30: THE BATTLE OF CHEONGGYECHEON
Once again:
An End of KCTU-KFTU "Love Affair"
It's only recently that the S. Korean "progressive"/labor movement - once again(!!) - hailed the "rosy future" of the imminent "Unified KCTU-KFTU Struggle Front", confronting (and bringing down!!) the LMB regime...
But (surprise, surprise!!) only moments later the KFTU (leadership) - once again(!!) - demonstrated that it's more interested in the collaboration with the ruling class...
The end of the KCTU-KFTU "honeymoon" came about after Jang Seok-chun, head of FKTU, broke the tenuous partnership with the KCTU, and went alone into last-minute negotiations with rulers (gov't and "employers") last Friday(*).
And of course - once again(!!) - the KCTU, especially its current chairman Lim Seong-kyu, called the FKTU (leadership) a "betrayer" and canceled the KCTU-KFTU "honeymoon"...
Two days ago The Hankyoreh asked Lim Seong-kyu: "Is your agreement to cooperate with FKTU officially over?"
And he replied: “Yes, it is. FKTU had not disclosed to us, their partner, any information about changes in the umbrella union’s existing position prior to FKTU Chairman Chang Seok-chun’s press conference on Nov. 30. It appears its leadership also tricked FKTU’s members on the ground. Since FKTU had previously voted to hold a general strike and burned its bridge with the current administration, we had thought they would continue to cooperate with us through the middle of this month, even if they were conspiring, however, they changed their direction quite suddenly. It seems the FKTU leadership intends to follow orders from the Lee administration.”
* Related stuff by K. Times (12.7):
☞ Turn of Events Leaves Labor Drive Out of Air
Solidarity With the Struggle of Migrant Workers in S.K.!
Agit-prop Rally/Candlelight Vigil in Seoul
Tomorrow(Wed.), 7 p.m., Daerim Stn.(subway line no. 2), exit no. 12
!!'불법'사람은 없다!!
For more info please check out:
☞ 12/9 단속반대 액션 공지!!
A Great Idea, But Possibly Moribund...
Once upon a time there was a bunch of Swedish yuppie/"entrepreneurs" and they had the f*cking great idea how to make some easy money combined with "a touch of adventure".
And they found a simple and "brilliant" way:
"(Female) slave laborers in Pyongyang will produce for us jeans (our brand name: NOKO Jeans) and we will sell the first-ever jeans 'Made in D.P.R.K.' (where the 'Dear Leader' strictly forbids the wearing of jeans, i.e. the U.S. imperialist shit... But that's not our problem!!^^) in the luxery and trendy PUB department store in central Stockholm for at least 150 euro ($220, equivalent to several annual income of an ordinary N.K. worker... But that's also not our problem!!^^)"
While until y'day all went well... quite suddenly - last night - PUB department store found out that NOKO Jeans were/are produced in the world's last "Gulag"...
And so, today in the morning PUB department store cancels sale of Swedish jeans made in N.Korea...
For more backgrounds and recent developments about that idiotic story please check out:
☞ N. Korea's first designer jeans on sale in Sweden (Reuters, 12.01)
☞ Swedish firm launches jeans 'made in North Korea' (The Independent, 12.04)
☞ From a Land Without Jeans, Denim Diplomacy (NYT, 12.05)
☞ Swedish store cancels sale of N.Korea-made jeans (Global Times, 12.07)
☞ Dep't store cancels sale of jeans made in N.K. (Independent, 12.07)
☞ Warenhaus stoppt Verkauf nordkoreanischer Jeans (Spiegel, 12.07)
After the KRWU Strike:
The Ruling Class Seeks for Revenge!
Ever since the Korean Railway Workers’ Union (KRWU) called a "temporary" end to its strike, the KORAIL capitalists, the Lee administration and ruling Grand National Party (GNP) have been speeding up their suppression of unions. Undoubtedly police and prosecutors will be acting quickly with their investigation of the KRWU leadership.
Ever since the KRWU called off its strike, members of the Lee gov't have been acting like the victors in some war. The GNP, in particular, has not held back. At a meeting of ruling party officials last Friday, there was an outpouring of remarks about how the KRWU had raised a white flag, that those responsible for the strike must be held civilly and criminally liable...
The prosecution is seeking the arrest of union leader Kim Ki-tae and 15 other key members, on whom the court earlier issued a warrant.
"Though the strike ended, we will act upon legal principles and continue the investigation on those who are responsible for it," said a prosecution official last Friday.
A total of 197 union members, including Kim, were indicted over the strike and 884 were dismissed, Korea Herald reported y'day.
"At this point, it looks as if they want to bring not just the KRWU but also the entire labour movement utterly to its knees" The Hankyoreh (12.05) fears and outlines the possible Next steps for the KCTU.
Just (four hours ago) Yonhap reported following:
Rail unionists call off strike
The embattled union of Korea Railroad (KORAIL) called off its longest-ever strike Thursday after severely crippling the nation's rail services for eight days.
The KORAIL union called a news conference Thursday evening to announce that its striking members will immediately return to work "in order to prepare for a fresh struggle against the government and the KORAIL management."
The union then urged the management to resume dialogue in a "faithful and reasonable" manner.
Related reports:
☞ Rail unionists set to call off strike: officials (K. Herald)
☞ KRWU shifts tactics and returns to work (Hankyoreh)
Today is the 7th day of the Railway Workers Strike in S. Korea. According to K. Times "it has already become the longest strike waged by the union".
But meanwhile the gov't does it's utmost(^^) to escalete the situation!
Already yesterday it declared:
"THE STRIKE IS ILLEGAL!"
At the same time dozens of cops raided the head quarter of the KRWU in Seoul's Yongsan District to arrest union activists (on charges of "masterminding an nationwide illegal strike and disrupting Korail operations") and confiscated "incriminating evidence", incl. the unions computers. The cops also formed a special division to hunt the "leaders behind the strike" and set out to locate 15 executive members of the KRWU for whom arrest warrants have been issued, incl. Kim Ki-tae, the chairperson of the union.
But the efforts by the gov't are confronted with resistance!
While about 5,000 workers rallied in Seoul/Yeouido today afternoon, calling for the government and KORAIL to stop oppressing legitimate labor activities...
...many representatives of different civic groups gathered at the same time in front of the Central Gov't Complex in downtown Seoul (near Gwanghwamun) and called for the termination of the government's crackdown on KRWU.
But while, according to JoongAng Ilbo, KRWU publicly asked today for negotiations or talks with the KORAIL management without “preconditions”, ultimately KORAIL CEO Hu Joon-yeong, a former national police chief, reaffirmed his hard-line policy, saying the management is not going to give in to current demands by the KRWU.
Solidarity With the Struggle of Migrant Workers in S.K.!
Agit-prop Rally/Candlelight Vigil in Seoul
Tomorrow(Wed.), 7 p.m., Ttukseom Stn.(subway line no. 2), exit no. 4
!!'불법'사람은 없다!!
For more info please check out:
☞ 12/2 단속반대 액션 공지!!
Since last Thursday(11.26): Railway Workers Strike in S. Korea
While thousands of unionized railway workers, organized in the Korean Railway Workers’ Union/KRWU, went today on strike for the fifth day, the S.K. "President orders crackdown on railway strike"(AFP, 11.29) - i.e. "Unionists Face Arrest"(K. Times, 11.30).
At least 16,000 KRWU members are joining the general strike in protest against the company's unilateral annulment of the labor collective agreement(*).
KORAIL CEO Hu Joon-yeong, however, has signaled no hint of compromise unless the union ends the stoppage first, pledging to punish all participants in the collective action(K. Herald, 11.30).
Meanwhile, unionized truck drivers, organized in the Korean Cargo Transport Workers Union/KCTWU, decided today they will refuse to provide alternative transportation for Korea Railroad's (KORAIL) freight service.
"KORAIL may be limited in dealing with the situation on its own. We will block the company's attempt at road transport," a KCTWU official stated today in the morning. "We have to join forces to win the fight for all of us. We have also decided to stage our strike following the schedule of the KRWU."
Today's Hankyoreh reported following:
Lee administration takes heavy-handed response to Korean Railway Workers’ Union strike
Police open KORAIL Union leaders investigation as union members continue to demand restoration of their collective bargaining rights
The police opened an investigation into the leaders of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union on Sunday, the fourth day of the strike that was launched in response to the unilateral announcement by the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) regarding the termination of the collective bargaining agreement.
Observers say the Lee administration’s emphasis on a firm response to the Korean Railway Workers’ Union’s strike is only escalating matters.
An official of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said on the same day, “The police have opened an investigation into 182 union members, including the union’s leaders, in response to charges filed against them by the Korea Railroad Corporation.” The official added, “The police will conduct an investigation in as timely a manner as possible in spite of the fact that the union members have not yet responded to a summons.”
KORAIL has filed charges against five members of the “Committee for Reinstatement” on Sunday, in addition to charges already filed against 182 union members.
In response to a question about the situation raised during the “Advancement of Public Corporations Workshop” held at the Central Officials Training Institute located in Kwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province on Nov. 28, President Lee Myung-bak said, “Citizens are having a difficult time understanding the decision to strike by members of a public corporation while hundreds of thousands of young people are experiencing unemployment.” President Lee added, “We should not compromise with the striking union members.”
A dialogue between the Korean Railway Workers’ Union and KORAIL has yet to take place. The union sent an official letter to KORAIL to request resumption of the collective bargaining agreement, however, as of Nov. 29 it has received no response. Paek Nam-hee, public relations official for the Korean Railway Workers’ Union, said, “The government should not deny our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights and should instruct KORAIL CEO Huh Joon-young to restore collective bargaining rights to the union.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/390570.html
* More past and updated news reports about the strike you can find on LabourStart!
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