2250개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Today's Korea Herald reported following:
KCTU head indicted for protests
Prosecutors yesterday indicted a top official of a major labor umbrella group on charges of obstructing operations at workplaces by leading illegal demonstrations.
Lee Yong-sik, secretary-general of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, is alleged to have directed the union members of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group to go on strike in July to protest U.S. beef imports, which was illegitimate as it failed to gain support from more than 50 percent of unionists.
Lee is also accused of taking an active role in blocking the transit of imported U.S. beef from a warehouse near Seoul in the same month.
He also organized dozens of sits-in at E.Land's Homever last year, obstructing customers' access to the retail store, according to the prosecution.
He is also alleged to have held unauthorized gatherings in June last year to prevent a law on temporary workers from coming into effect and occupying public roads during a protest against a Korea-U.S. free trade deal in November.
Also today the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) published following new report for the WTO General Council review of the trade policies in S. Korea (Geneva, Oct. 8 and 10, 2008):
☞ Trade Union Rights Restricted in S. Korea
Related:
☞ YTN Fires Unionists Opposing New Head (K. Times, 10.7)
☞ YTN조합원 33명 부당징계… (KCTU, 10.7)
In sharp contrast to the (almost) complete absence of solidarity with the expolited and oppressed in North Korea (by the S.K. "left"/"progressive" movement) there has been - during the era of the dictatorships in South Korea - a broad international support for the S.K. struggle for democracy.
And it included solidarity activities with the struggling S.K. working class:
1987 in South Korea female textile workers were involved in a difficult and lengthy strike action against the Flair Fashion factories, owned by the German company ADLER. In solidarity with those women, Rote Zora (*) placed a bomb in the ADLER concern’s head office in Haiback and later followed a night of co-ordinated attacks on nine ADLER branches around Germany. The damages ran up around 35 million DM, i.e. 18 million Euros (**). The action had a crucial importance because the striking women in South Korea won their fight, in that all serious demands were met (in Documenta Magazines: "Feminisms of the times").
1987년 7월 2일, 독일 대사관에 들어간 이리 후레아 패션 노동자 일부가 대사관
현관에서 연좌시위를 벌였다. (Yonhap)
One of Rote Zora's most famous and successful actions came in 1987: While South Korean women workers were on strike against the German owned textile corporation Adler, which was boosting its production due to cheap labor prices in Korea, Rote Zora supported the efforts of the striking women. On one night in June 1987, there was a series of coordinated firebombings directed against Adler chain stores. The corporation soon gave in to the demands of the striking Korean women (in "Resistance Means Attack").
* From 1975 to 1988 within the context of the Revolutionary Cells (RZ), the autonomous women's organization called 'Rote Zora' developed. Although the Rote Zora followed the same fundamental concepts as the RZ, the group was also a radical feminist expression of the women's movement. But the group did not solely focus on women's issues, and the Rote Zora did carry out actions as part of RZ campaigns, for example against the NATO summit in 1982.
** 1 Euro = 1716.30 Won
"Building a World Without Irregular Workers!"
From today's Hankyoreh:
Declaration to abolish irregular worker system announced
Includes appeal for end to long-running labor disputes and guarantee of basic labor rights for irregular and migrant workers
9.23: Activists of civic and labour organizations held a press conference in front of Seoul's
Jogye-sa(Temple), demanding a "World Without Irregular Workers"
Some 10,000 labor, human rights and religious figures and netizens from about 200 labor, civic and religious groups announced yesterday a declaration calling for the creation of a “world without irregular workers.” The group they formed, “10,000 Persons, 10,000 Actions to Build a World Without Irregular Workers,” convened a press conference in front of Jogyesa Temple in Seoul’s Jongno-gu yesterday to announce the “10,000 Person Declaration to Abolish the Irregular Worker System.” Some 10,349 participated in the “10,000 Person Declaration Movement,” including Lee So-seon, the mother of martyred labor activist Chun Tae-il, and Unification Issue Research Center Director and former democracy movement leader Paek Ki-wan.
Participants said in their declaration that a person’s right to enjoy the fruits of their labor and dream of a future was collapsing in the name of the irregular worker system, and that the continued existence of the system, which was solidifying social polarization, was unethical and antisocial. They called on all citizens to come forward to completely banish the irregular worker system, which they termed, “mad cow disease for the workplace.” Criticizing the government’s ignoring irregular laborers who “have been fighting for hundreds, thousands of days,” the declaration called for a resolution to the long-running workplace disputes involving irregular workers at Kiryung Electronics, Koscom, E-Land and KTX and the abolishment of the irregular worker system from all workplaces. It also called for the abolishment of laws harmful to irregular workers, the guarantee of the basic labor rights of workers who are not recognized as such, the guarantee of rights for migrant workers, and the recognition workers indirectly hired by outsourcing companies are actually employed by the company at which the work is done.
Lee So-seon said at the press conference that she came forward due to the misery of a reality in which people who made money from real estate live well while laborers who work hundreds or thousands of days cannot make ends meet.
Park Sun-gyeong, an honorary professor at Ewha Womans University, said to ignore the irregular worker issue was to lose sight of ones responsibility for oneself and history.
Meanwhile, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference and rally in front of the Sejong Center in Gwanghwamun on Tuesday afternoon calling for the resolution of long-term workplace disputes involving irregular workers. Some 2,000 unionists were in attendance.
From 7:00 p.m., a candlelight demonstration was held at Cheonggyecheon Plaza, with candlelight demonstrations also taking place in the city centers of Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan and Jeonju.
Participants in the declaration movement also collected 5,000 won per person and placed a full-page advertisement in yesterday’s print edition of The Hankyoreh. The remaining money was given as aid to irregular workers involved in long-term disputes.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/312015.html
Related reports:
☞ 촛불, 청계광장에서 다시 타오르다 (VoP)
☞ 비정규직 없는 세상 만들기 서명 '1만 돌파' (KCTU)
☞ 오병이어의 기적 (Chamsesang TV)
☞ KCTU Chairman Finds Refuge in Buddhist Temple (JoongAng Ilbo, 9.24)
☞ 이석행.., 조계사에서 하반기사업 집중구상 (KCTU, 9.23)
☞ Arrests of Korean trade unionists continue (IMF, 9.23)
"The Union Just Raised Both Hands in the Air in Surrender"
After 434 days: the New Core strike ended..
Last Friday (8.29) Yonhap reported that the "New Core labor dispute is settled" and "the union and management of discount store chain New Core reached an agreement to rehire 36 temporary workers, ending a strike after 434 days.The company will re-employ the 36 cashiers and turn their job status to permanent in two years. In return, the union pledged not to strike by 2010."
About the same case Hankyoreh published one day later following article:
New Core strike comes to an end after 400 days
36 irregular employees rehired but issues including the company’s
lawsuit against the union still unresolved
The labor union at New Core, a part of the E.land Group, has agreed with New Core to the rehiring of 36 of its irregular employees, marking an end to a strike that began in protest of the company’s decision to lay off its irregular workers and outsource some of its operations. The strike went on for more than 400 days.
New Core union chairperson Park Yang-su and company president Choi Jong-yang signed a written agreement August 29 at the New Core outlet store in Pyeongchon, Anyang City, Gyeonggi Province.
Company officials said that in exchange for the union withdrawing its demand that the company stop outsourcing its cashiers, the 36 irregular employees whose contracts had run out because of the outsourcing that began in June 2007 would be rehired.
The union, then, has yielded on much of its initial demands. It went on strike saying that irregular employees had been laid off ahead of the new Irregular Employment Act, which would have required that they be given “direct” employment.
The two sides also issued a “Joint Declaration on Labor-Management Reconciliation.” In it, the union declares it will not go on strike at any time before 2010 and that it will “do all it can to make this an exemplary solution for issues of irregular employment.”
The statement makes no mention of the 10-billion-won damages lawsuit the company had filed against the union, or of any decision about whether 18 employees who were laid off as a punitive measure will be rehired. A company official said those issues remain to be discussed with the union.
The agreement, however is not without detractors. “Recognizing outsourcing and the ‘labor-management declaration’ could set a bad precedent,” said Kim Seong-hui of the Korea Irregular Workers’ Center. “One also worries that unresolved issues like the lawsuit and the question of returning other workers to their jobs could lead to the destruction of democratic unions.”
“The union just about raised both hands in the air (in surrender), but with more than 90 percent of the union composed of regular workers, it was weak in its ability to wage a struggle. It was going to have been hard for the union to hold out any longer,” said one of its members.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/307557.html
Related:
☞ Lessons Learned From a 434-Day Strike ("Editorial" by Chosun Ilbo, 9.01)
☞ "434일만에 뉴코아 돌아가는 노동자, 그러나.." (8.29)
☞ The Full Story of E-Land Strike (2007/08)
*****
A Small Victory for the S.K. Democracy(?)
The Seoul Central District Court denied a police request on late Thursday night
for warrants to detain Oh Se-cheol and six other leading activists of the Socialist Workers League of Korea (SWLK) while officers investigated their roles in "forming an allegedly anti-state organization", a "violation of the National 'Security' Law". Oh and his comrades were released around 11:40 p.m. on Thursday. But the cops "will also further investigate the seven socialists and seek another warrant"(!!!), according to JoongAng Ilbo.
Released after 48 hours in detention: Seven SWLK activists
Yesterday the "left-liberal" Hankyoreh published following article based on an..
Interview with Oh Se-cheol
Socialist Workers League of Korea members were set free, but their fight to promote socialism has just begun
“The police have lost points.” The voice of Oh Se-cheol, 65, a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, was firm. In an interview with The Hankyoreh on August 29 at the offices of the Socialist Workers League of Korea, Oh said, “Politically-motivated police have failed to link SWLK to the candlelight demonstrations. The outcome will be the same even if police seek arrest warrants again after additional investigations.”
Three days after police arrested Oh and six other Socialist Workers League members on charges of allegedly violating the National Security Law, Korea’s anti-communism law, the six were released on the night of August 28 after a court rejected arrest warrants for them. Oh, who has served as the head of the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration, the dean of the business school at Yonsei University and the leader of the Association for People’s Politics, is one of Korea’s most respected liberal scholars.
Oh said the police probe against Socialist Workers League members was aimed at “targeting the candlelight demonstrations.” Oh said, “After designating SWLK as an anti-state organization, police inquired about allegations that the group had instigated demonstrators by distributing anti-state leaflets. Investigators cornered us, even though they understood that allegations related to the National Security Law, including the designation of SWLK as an anti-state organization and the accusation of distribution of anti-state leaflets, don’t legally make sense. An anti-state organization is regarded as a pro-North Korea group, but we aren’t on that side. Furthermore, our research of socialism isn’t aimed at ‘immediately overthrowing the nation.’ Rather than ambiguously applying the National Security Law, do it openly and fairly by making a law suppressing socialism.”
“When an investigator said to me, ‘I confirmed your mobile-phone locations, were you there from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. when a candlelight demonstration was held,’ I said, ‘Yes, is that so problematic?’” Oh said. “The investigator replied, ‘That’s an illegal, violent rally.’ But police failed after trying to politically exploit our group in the wake of the candlelight rallies,” Oh said, adding, “Police have been keeping tabs on my phone and e-mail for about a year. Instead of hastily publicizing the probe, wouldn’t it have been better for the police to have conducted a proper investigation for two or three more years?”
Oh emphasized that the case provides an opportunity to raise a public awareness for the abolishment of the National Security Law. “When police asked for detailed information about the group, I responded that the details are posted on the group’s Web site and invited them to visit the Web site,” Oh said. “Just 20 years ago, I didn’t dare to use the term ‘socialism,’ but things have changed. Police should change their investigative methods by putting handcuffs on and arresting people on charges that everyone is aware of,” he said. “In the wake of this case, I have reaffirmed for myself that the National Security Law can oppress the freedom of ideology in various ways. People who fought to abolish the National Security Law should stand up and talk about it again.”
As for the future activities of the Socialist Workers League, Oh said, “It begins.” The group has resolved to “undertake the long-term task of overcoming capitalism in the stream of history,” Oh said. “Since the administration of President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated, the problems with capitalist regimes have arisen on a large scale. Therefore, our aim is to plant the seeds of battle between capitalism and labor.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/307554.html
Related articles:
☞ Socialists freed after judge rules against warrants (JoongAng Ilbo, 8.30)
☞ Arrest Warrant Rejected for Progressive Economist (K. Times, 8.29)
In the last weeks, when we had to read articles/statements by the S.K. left media/organizations comparing the policy of the current (LMB) gov't with the (fascist) dictatorships in S.K.'s past, some people thought that such comparisons are (likely) a little to exaggerated. But after the "enjoyment" of following news...
Leftwing Academic Held for Subversion (Chosun Ilbo, 8.27)
Oh Se-cheol, a professor emeritus of Yonsei University and prominent leftwing academic, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of breaching the National Security Law. Oh’s arrest is seen as a start of a government crackdown on leftwing organizations which grew and expanded their realm of activities under the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations.
Seoul Metropolitan Police said they received an arrest warrant and a search and seizure warrant for eight members of the Socialist Workers League of Korea, including Oh, and arrested seven of them on Tuesday. Police seized CDs, computers and diaries in their homes and offices.
The SWLK was founded in February this year, and publicly proclaims its aim of building a revolutionary socialist labor party. It also aims for nationalization of business and financial groups and abolition of police and standing army.
However, this does not mean the SWLK is pro-North Korea: on its homepage it calls the North “a hierarchical anti-worker society that is exploitative and repressive” and “a reactionary regime that must be overthrown by the workers.”
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808270019.html
It's very remarkable, that "Oh’s arrest is seen as a start of a government crackdown on (other) leftwing organizations.." This may be a concrete threat against many other organizations in S.K., such as DLP ("The Socialist Alternative"), All Together ("Anti-capitalist Workers Movement"), several "radical" parts of the KCTU and other "peoples' resistance" groups and organizations...
SWLK may be only the first (supposed weak) target group, but the massive fleet of solidarity statements released since y'day by many other (student/workers/civil right...) groups shows that the S.K. progressive resistance is realizing the threat (*)!
Economist Nabbed for Praising Socialism.. (Korea Times)
Police arrested a renowned economist for speaking out against capitalism, which is in violation of the National Security Law. Civic groups and academics are criticizing the government for suppressing so-called progressive scholars over false information.
Some are worrying whether these new moves will bring back the "public security'' era when police used excessive force against people under the name of "keeping the peace'' in the authoritarian era of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Wednesday it had arrested Oh Se-cheol, honorary professor at Yonsei University, and seven other Socialist Workers League of Korea members on Tuesday. The eight are now being questioned in Ogin-dong, central Seoul, over whether they have criticized capitalism and praised socialism as well as other acts considered benefiting the enemy ― the North Korea.
The police spokesman said Oh, chairman of the league, and others have released leaflets and other materials denouncing liberal capitalism. The group's flags were seen at the candlelit protests against U.S. beef imports, he added.
The investigative body also said Oh openly sought the establishment of a revolutionary socialist group saying, ``We are the revolutionary forces that declare the world proletarian revolution publicly and express the determination to struggle with the proletariat of the world including Korea in the history of the workers' movement and communist movement in Korea after 1945,'' on the group's Web site.
However, academia and others are criticizing the police's moves since Oh is well known for denouncing North Korea. Roh Hoe-chan of the minor New Progressive Party said, "Oh and his groups constantly said the North has been polluted with other ideas in socialism, which all socialists should `refrain from following'. Shouldn't the group be defined as anti-North Korean?''
About 10 civic groups held protests in front of the investigation room saying, "Why should they be punished for talking about what they believe in, which is obviously not praising the enemy?''
"Oh criticized capitalism even under the military junta in the 1970s but was never prosecuted for violating the law. I do not understand the government's ethics on the issue,'' Prof. Han Sang-hee of Konkuk University said calling for the government's respect on a variety of social ideas.
Some speculate the investigation will see a revival of the debate about whether the National Security Law should be abolished. The law bans all kinds of praise, promotion or sympathy toward the enemy. In this case, the enemy is North Korea, experts say...
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/08/117_30105.html
☞ Police crack down on socialist organization (JoongAng Ilbo)
☞ This Is Not How Democracies Behave (The Marmot's Hole)
☞ Unusual Suspects (1) (OneFreeKorea)
* For example:
1.) Jeong Gap-deuk, the President of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), was arrested last Wednesday (8.20) in Pocheon (Gyeonggi-do), today's JoongAng Ilbo reported. Since 7.24 he "joined" the S.K. government's "most wanted" list of KCTU leaders (*)...
"Jeong had been wanted by police on charges of illegally interfering with businesses by leading a general strike against the government’s resumption of beef imports from the United States and plans to privatize aspects of the public sector.", the bourgeois JoongAng Ilbo wrote.
In front of KCTU's HQ: Cops are searching for the "most wanted" activists..
2.) Also last Wednesday KCTU issued a press release denouncing the ongoing repression against its leadership.
The statement referred to the fact that the security authorities removed the suspension banners calling for the resignation of the LMB gov't, defence of vital labour/civil rights and the dismissal of the chief of the Nat'l Police Agency from the KCTU building by mobilizing gangsters in behalf of Yeongdeungpo District Office that day.
Worse still, the authorities created terror-ridden atmosphere after deploying 10 companies of the riot cops around the KCTU HQ to remove the suspension banners. They committed violence against members of the organization protesting against it and threatened that they would arrest them, it said.
The statement said also that the gov't/police have escalated the repression against KCTU day by day as evidenced by the acts of detaining Ms. Jin Young-ok, (Vice-President of KCTU), for "no reason" and arresting Jeong Gap-deuk (KMWU) , on "absurd charges that he spearheaded a strike"...
http://www.nodong.org/metabbs/metabbs.php/post/38622
* Related:
☞ Stop arrests of trade union leaders (LabourStart's urgent action alert)
☞ 금속노조 영등포경찰서 항의방문 (VoP video, 8.22)
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