CINA

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Today in front of Seoul's Myeong-dong Cathedral: A coalition of organized migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people held a press conference to protest against the planned/already ongoing pre-G20 crackdown campaign by the LMB administration.

A call to join the struggle against the pre-G20 crackdown campaign is supported by many civil/human rights organisations, trade unions, ('left') political parties and resistance groups, e.g. the Buddhist Solidarity to Protect Human rights, KCTU, DLP, National Alliance of Evictees etc. (*)

Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following about the press conference:

Migrant workers decry crackdown

Michel, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, speaks during a press conference

condemning the government’s crackdown on migrant workers, street vendors

and the homeless in front of Myeongdong Cathedral

Black balloons bearing messages against the G20 summit scheduled in November were popped in protest by migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people, showing their objection to the government’s recent clampdown before the big international event.

Civic groups against the government’s oppression of human rights of social minorities held a press conference Tuesday in front of Myeongdong Cathedral.

The government said it would clamp down on unregistered foreigners until August as part of its efforts to boost security ahead of the G20 summit. However, migrant workers organizations refuted the idea as it condemned all unregistered international residents as possible terrorists.

Michel from the Philippines, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, said the government should protect minorities such as migrant workers, street vendors and the homeless.

“The Korean government is using the G20 summit as an excuse to attack minorities,” he said. “We want the government to end their oppression. Stop the crackdown!”

Lee Young, executive secretary of the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea, said the government considers these socially weak people as potential criminals and wants to expel them under the name of the G20 summit.

“If Korea wants to be a real multicultural society, it should provide stronger social safety nets and promote social integration. However, the government encourages social conflict, not unification,” Lee said.

The Homeless Action and the Korea Street Vendors Confederation also opposed the government’s plan.

Afterward, they started campaigning on the streets of Myeong-dong against the crackdown.

A passing citizen who read their brochure said he was too ignorant regarding the G20 summit.

“I didn’t know the government was driving these people out of the country due to the sake of hosting the G20,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why people protested against the G20 in Pittsburgh, PA., last year. But now I understand that the G20 summit has some dark sides as well.”

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/117_69827.html

Related reports:
☞ 부자 살리는 ‘G20’ 때문에 없는 사람들 내쫓아 (NewsCham, 7.20)

☞ “‘이주노동자, 노점상, 노숙인’ 단속 중단하라” (KCTU, 7.20)

☞ "G-20이 뭐라고 우리를 몰아내나요?" (OMN, 7.20)

☞ G20을 빌미로 한 단속추방 반대 농성 두번째 소식 (MTU)

* 주최 : 이주노동자권리지킴이, 한국불교종단협의회인권위원회, 공익변호사그룹공감, 구속노동자후원회, 노동자의힘, 다함께, 문화연대, 민주노동당, 민주노동당서울시당, 민주사회를위한변호사모임노동위원회, 민주주의법학연구회, 민주화를위한교수협의회, 불안정노동철폐연대, 건강권실현을위한보건의료단체연합, 사회진보연대, 서울경기인천이주노동자노동조합, 이주노동자인권연대, 이주노동자운동후원회, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국철거민연합, 학생행동연대, 한국비정규노동센터, 전국비정규노조연대회의, 인권단체연석회의, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 노동해방학생연대, 대학생사람연대, 성동광진이주노동자인권지킴이, 전국빈민연합, 전국학생행진, 전국해고노동자자복직위원회, 진보신당, 이주노동자의방송(MWTV), 외국인이주 노동운동협의회)

빈곤사회연대(공공노조 사회복지지부, 관악주민연대, 광진주민연대, 금융피해자연대 해오름, 노들장애인야간학교, 노숙당사자모임한울타리회, 대학생사람연대, 동자동사랑방, 민주노동당, 민주노동자연대, 민주노총, 민주화를위한전국교수협의회, 반빈곤네트워크(대구), 반빈곤센터(부산), 사회당, 사회주의노동자정당건설준비위원회, 사회진보연대, 서울복지시민연대, 성공회나눔의집협의회, 성동장애인자립생활센터, 성북장애인자립생활센터, 장애여성공감, 전국공무원노동조합, 전국불안정노동철폐연대, 전국빈민연합(빈민해방철거민연합‧전국노점상총연합), 전국장애인차별철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 전국철거민연합, 정태수열사추모사업회, 주거권실현을위한국민연합, 주거권실현을위한비닐하우스주민연합, 중랑장애인자립생활센터, 진보신당, 천주교빈민사목위원회, 천주교인권위원회, 최옥란열사추모사업회, 한국백혈병환우회, 한국빈곤문제연구소, 향린교회, 현장실천사회변혁노동자전선, 홈리스행동)

노점노동연대 / 민주노점상전국연합 / 전국노점상총연합 / 인권운동사랑방 / 진보신당 서울시당

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Last weekend in Hamilton(Ontario/CN): More than 200 activists from 28 countries attended LabourStart's first ever "Global Solidarity Conference"(*)...

LabourStart(LS) correspondent Stuart Elliot wrote about the event the following report:

Online Activists Gather From Around Globe to Jumpstart Labor Movement

Sometimes it's hard to understand the importance of an event or an organization when you're involved in it. As a volunteer correspondent for LabourStart.org and a participant in its “Act Now”  campaigns, I obviously think LabourStart an important project. But I really didn't really comprehend its potential until I attended the first public LabourStart conference at McMaster University's School of Labour Studies in Hamilton, Ontario.

“As unions confront a 21st century global capitalism, which is imposing a race to the bottom to union-free environments, unions must use new technologies to create a new labor internationalism," said Eric Lee, founding editor of Labour Start. "The mission of LabourStart is to promote those technologies and to practice a consistent internationalism.” 

LabourStart is an international labor news and campaigning site, run on a shoestring and powered by nearly 800 volunteer correspondents. Every day  the site publishes links to labor news in 23 different languages, and its news feeds appear on more than 800 union websites. It conducts e-mail campaigns in eight different languages.

There was some trepidation among LabourStart leaders about whether an Internet-based, low budget union news and campaigning site could attract an audience of union activists oustide its most committed corespondents. Particularly since, unlike the recently concluded ICTU conference, this was not a delegated meeting.

But the conference was able to attract over 200 participants from more than 28 countries. Attendees ranged from presidents of national unions, to representatives of Global Union Federations, to local union officers, to staffers, to grassroots activists.

Adam Lee of United Steelworkers International thanked LabourStart for its “tremendously effective” campaign on behalf of Vale nickel miners strikers, who settled a year-long strike just days before the conference began. On the first morning of the strike, which began in July 2009, more than 1,000 emails were sent to the Brazil-based multinational company. Two-thirds were from outside Canada, in eight languages from 80 countries, Lee said, It provided a “real boost” to the workers. And Brazilian workers for Vale were able to win a better than expected contract because the company didn't want to take on two international campaigns at the same time.

Robin Alexander, director of international affairs for the United Electrical workers union, said that when she got an appeal from workers at PEMEX, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, the first place she turned for help was LabourStart.

As Lennon Ying-Dah Wong, a union leader from Taiwan, spoke on a panel about China, I loooked to my left and saw Benedicto Martinez Orozco, co-president of the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo. Michael Eisenscher of US Labor Against the War, Amjad Ali of the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra (Iraq), and Erin Radford of the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center spoke on a panel about unions in Iraq. Other panels were devoted to Mexico, Eastern Europe, and Iran. 

Unfortunately, some people were unable to attend the conference—but the reasons why are enlightening. A leader of Bangladeshi textile workers union canceled his visit because of a monumental campaign in his home country—more than 50,000 workers there are on strike, protesting the lowest wages in the textile industry.

Representatives of independent unions in Egypt and Algeria were, at the last moment, denied visas by Canada. (AFL-CIO Solidarity Center representatives  ably filled in at a workshop on the revival of unions in those countries.) The ham-handness of Canadian authorities may backire. Derek Blackadder, national representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said that there was so much outrage at the exclusion of the Egyptian and Algerian unionists and so much excitement about their pioneering work that Canadian unionists will be exploring ongoing solidarity work on their behalf.

Of course, connecting disparate unionists, spread across different levels of different unions, to unite in international solidarity is no easy task. But LabourStart's global network of 800 correspondents and 70,000 Act Now e-mail activists will continue to be a part of that effort, which must be a central component of the future of the labor movement.

* For more about the conference, incl. reports, pictures, videos etc. please check out: http://www.labourstart.org/2010

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Today, for the first time since some month, thousands of KCTU activists took the streets in downtown Seoul (Jong-no district) to protest against the current labour/gov't policy of the LMB administration...

Korea Herald reported the following:

Some 5,000 members of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions protested in Seoul on Wednesday, with affiliated workplaces going on a strike nationwide.

Despite the earlier warning of a strict response from the police, demonstrators marched through Cheong Wa Dae after a gathering in the downtown area.

They were heading to the presidential office to deliver their petition that calls for stopping the repression of the teachers’ and public servants’ unions, increasing the minimum wage, suspending the four-river project and opposing the revision of the law on assembly and demonstration.

Riot police cracked down on them for illegal occupation of two roads. During the brief clash between them, three unionists were hauled to the police station for investigation...

The police had mobilized some 4,000 riot police from 60 squadrons to the gathering area near Bosingak, a pagoda with a large bell in central Seoul.

http://www.koreaherald.com/common/List.jsp?ListId=020102000000

Related reports:

☞ 민주노총 총력투쟁 결의대회...서울로 서울로! (KCTU)

☞ 민주노총 '타임오프 철회, 최저임금 인상' 도심 집회... (NewsCham)

Some more impressions (pics) from today's KCTU protest you can see here!

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No comment!

For more please check out:
☞ 공산당 건설 노동자해방실천위원회 가자! 프롤레타리아혁명정당 건설

And here you can (MUST!!^^) listen to the (somehow^^) corresponding "soundtrack"!

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While the South African (bourgeois) media celebrates the 2010 FIFA World Cup as "Explosions of Happiness", the situation for the workers who are making the World Cup possible is far off 'happiness'!

Today's Reuters reported the following from Durban:

Police clash with World Cup workers

South African police fired teargas and rubber bullets late Sunday/early Monday to chase hundreds of protesting World Cup workers out of the Moses Mabhida stadium in the coastal city of Durban.

Hundreds of riot cops armed with shotguns, tear gas guns, batons and riot shields chased the workers, who were deployed as stewards in the ground and were protesting over wages, out of the stadium where Germany had earlier beaten Australia 4-0 in their opening World Cup game.

Several workers, incl. at least one woman were injured when they were hit by rubber bullets, a witness said.

"We were mounting a peaceful protest because they were not paying us what we expected and we were surprised that the police started charging at us. They fired teargas at us," said one of the workers, Sydney Nzoli.

The around 500 workers later dispersed after police gave them a 10-minute deadline and said their grievances had to be discussed with their employers.

A police spokesman said the disturbance started after workers were paid less than they expected for their work during the match.

One worker said they were paid 190 rand ($24.50) for the day's work, instead of the 425 rand they were supposed to have been paid in terms of their contract.

Related article:
☞ Police clash with workers in first unrest (Mail&Guardian, 6.14)

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The Indian news magazine N.DTV reported y'day the following:

170 Hyundai workers arrested on Day 2 of strike

Over 170 agitating workers at Hyundai Motor India’s Sriperumbudur plant were arrested on Tuesday, the second day of the strike, after the management deemed the sit-in strike illegal.

The arrests come after a complete breakdown in conciliatory talks between the management and the workers mediated by the state Deputy Commissioner of Labour.

Further talks will continue on Wednesday but the arrest of the striking workers has upped the ante.

 
"The talks are just for namesake. The management can’t be trusted with anything. We are going to intensify our protests. Now we won’t give up at no cost. We also want them to recognise the union," said Sounderarajan, secretary at CITU.

Sources say the eviction of striking workers from the plant was aimed at a possible resumption of production by using contract workers.

There has been no output of cars from the factory since Sunday night which has led to an entire stoppage of production at the 16 captive component suppliers. Those affected include Lumax, Hwashin and Hanil Lear.

The production hit is starting to hurt Hyundai which sees a large part of its output heading overseas.

More than 4,400 cars down on its production means Hyundai may have to shift even more of its i20 production to its Turkey plant. The i20 was initially supposed to have been made only in India.

A further shift may also end up costing Hyundai and reversing the low cost advantage its Indian export base currently offers.

http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/...workers-arrested-on-day-2-of-strike-72457

Related articles:

☞ Over 200 Hyundai workers arrested on second day of strike (The Hindu, 6.08)
☞ Labor disputes swell at overseas Hyundai Kia plants (Hankyoreh, 6.09)

Updated(6.10) news:
☞ Hyundai Motor India workers call off strike (IANS, 6.09)
But FT.com reported y'day that "Police break up Hyundai strike".

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FIRST RESPONSE ENGLISH EDUCATORS
Press Release (May 30, 2010)

FREED (First Response English Educators) is a first response support network for teachers and it has particular concern for the newest newcomers among teachers in South Korea. It provides information and consultation regarding settlement and employment. FREED is also an affiliate of TEA-KOR, an anti-imperialist network for teachers established in 2007.

FREED upholds the values of human rights and peace. We enjoy the support of the Busan Human Rights Counseling Center (Busan Ingwan Sangdam Center) .

With this press release, we want to address some current issues related to human rights and peace. Many education issues have come to our attention lately. Also, we wish to communicate a message of concern for peace in the region.

The crackdown against migrant workers

Many migrant workers from poor countries come to work in Korea at the invitation of employers and many employers take advantage of them by not properly documenting them. FREED discourages undocumented employment. However, we object to methods of enforcement that violate human rights and democratic practice. South Korea companies have accepted migrant workers without the regular monitoring of employers over the years but initiates periodic crackdowns unjustly. We think that employers and faulty government regulations are largely responsible for the lack of documentation. We express solidarity with all workers, including teachers and all migrants. Workers without documentation should be documented and amnesty granted until documentation is completed.

The MEST dismissals

FREED upholds the civil rights of all, including the political freedoms of freedom of association and the freedom to organize. How can an election be legitimate if the incumbent candidates use the mechanisms and power of the state to persecute the supporters and members of opposing parties? We support democratic participation in the political process. We support the calls for the reinstatement of the public school teachers dismissed for political involvements.

The arrests of labor leaders

Furthermore, we strongly object to the arrests of legitimate union staff and representatives in the KTU and other unions. This is profoundly undemocratic and hypocritical of the state officials responsible for ordering these dismissals. We demand their release and an end to such persecution of labor organizers. We urge freely negotiated settlements to all outstanding collective agreements in the public and private sectors.

The dismissed university lecturers

FREED joins in the call for the reinstatement of the thousands of laid-off university lecturers. We object to the mass lay-off of all the part-time and casual employees in multiple sectors, which was done so that employers could avoid the expenses of newly implemented employment regulations pertaining to part-time and casual workers with over two years of continuous employment. We sympathize with other teachers working in deplorable and stressful working conditions with over-work and under-payment. As foreign teachers, we often experience such hardship ourselves and we see no reason or justification for such poor conditions and hardship. Overwork is rampant in Korea and more work could be spread around by limiting full-time workers to five-day work weeks and eight-hour work days. It would serve the economy and employment relations to ensure that employees are all compensated fairly with proper benefits.

Corruption in education institutions

Our condolences go out to the family and colleagues of Seo, the hourly lecturer who committed suicide on May 25th. His suicide note told of extensive corruption and abuse at his institution. He was paid a very low salary and was forced to pay a price to obtain employment and described his work relationship to a professor as that of a slave. He reported participating in fraudulent practices and then committed suicide out of shame and stress. His case speaks to abhorrent and corrupt conditions in the education system. The government needs to address this problem squarely and thoroughly. FREED would actively support such efforts.

Peace (*)

Finally, we would like to echo the calls for calmness and a peaceful resolution to the conflict between North and South Korea without military action and foreign interference. There should be a careful investigation of the Cheonan disaster by a credible third party. With concern for the welfare of all, we look forward to a reunited Korea and a region without nuclear weapons.

http://www.freedteachers.org/content/freed-press-release-teachers-and-all-workers-rights

* Somehow related:
☞ S. Korea: migrant workers and the anti-war movement (PeaceNews, 2003)

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Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reports the following:

      Yongsan protesters get 4-5 year jail sentence 
  
An appellate court in Seoul Monday sentenced nine protesters who had demonstrated against a redevelopment plan in Yongsan, Seoul to four to five years in prison on charges of killing a riot policeman and injuring dozens in a blaze set off during a clash in January last year.

The high court sentenced Lee Choon-yeon, the leader of the association of evictees, and another protester to five years in prison, a reduction from the six year sentence at a lower court.

The five other protesters received four-year jail sentences, down from the previous five years. The other two received suspended jail terms, the Seoul High Court ruled.

"It was legitimate for riot police to take part in the operation given that the situation was extremely risky for ordinary police officers to handle," said presiding Judge Kim In-wook, dismissing the defense team's allegation that the police abused their power. "In addition, the evidence, testimony and on-site inspection shows the fire was started by the protesters."

The nine were indicted after six people including a police officer were killed and more than 20 were injured in a blaze started during a pre-dawn clash on January 20 on the rooftop of a commercial building in Yongsan, central Seoul.

The conflict was between a group of protesters whose houses in the area were designated for demolition in a city redevelopment plan ― allegedly without sufficient compensation ― and the police who were dispatched to evict them.

The police caught 27 protesters at the scene and the nine were prosecuted after it was confirmed by the prosecution that they had led the illegal occupation.

Following the ruling, distraught family members expressed their despondency from the guilty verdict in a statement, saying "It is a day of extreme disappointment."

They plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/05/113_66821.html

Related articles:
☞ 용산참사 항소심도 중형선고... (참세상, 5.31)
☞ 용산..철거민 항소심, 정치적 판결 규탄한다! (Press release, 5.31)
 

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As today's (bourgeois) Korea Times is reporting, the LMB administration intensifies its repression campaign against the KTU:

134 teachers to be fired over political activities 
 

The progressive Korea Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU) is facing an uncertain future as education authorities are moving to dismiss more than 100 of its unionized teachers.

The planned dismissal will be the largest ever since the union's establishment in 1989, and has sparked a strong protest from the union.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Sunday it was moving to sack 134 public school teachers, who reportedly signed up for the membership of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party, and suspend four others.

"Teachers are bound to maintain their political neutrality. Paying membership fees to support a certain political party is illegal," the ministry said.

Of those fired, 50 ― who publicly denounced the government last year ― will be dismissed without benefits, depriving them of pensions and other perks given to civil servants.

The dismissal process is expected to take about 60 days.

The action comes following prosecution indictments of 148 teachers at public and 35 from private schools for joining the progressive political party earlier this year.

The KTU leader, Chung Jin-hwo, labeled the incident as a "Bloody Sunday" and said the union will join hands with liberal civic groups to pressure the government to reverse the decision.

Some leaders have already started a hunger strike in front of the ministry building in central Seoul, and are planning anti-government demonstrations during the June 2 local election campaign period.

"We have explained to the government several times that the money handed to the DLP was a donation, not a membership fee. Moreover, being interested in political issues should not be grounds for dismissal," Chung said in a press conference in Seoul.

"Punishing the members before a court ruling is ridiculous. They are holding a witch-hunt before the local elections," said Yang Sung-yoon, head of the Korean Government Employees' Union.

The KTU has been at odds with the conservative administration over state-run standardized exams for elementary and secondary school students, and teacher evaluation programs.

Recently, Rep. Cho Jeon-hyeok of the ruling Grand National Party disclosed a list of its members on his Web site, citing parents' right to know the political affiliation of their children's teachers. A court banned this for violating the teachers' privacy and ordered him to pay 30 million won in fines for each day the names were left posted on his site.

 
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/05/117_66356.html

Related article:
☞ Teachers’ union faces crisis (K. Herald, 5.23)

 
PS:
Just three weeks ago K. Times reported about 'New ways' to harm KTU...

For more about the subject please check out LabourStart!