CINA

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전국학습지노조 재능교육지부 투쟁 승리를 위한 1500인 선언!(11월 14일 선언자 명단)

학습지재능지부조합원들의 1400일간의 투쟁의 기록, “희망색연필”

[11.13] Jaeneung sit-in struggle 'tent' (lunch time)...

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Today in the morning I recieved the following Urgent Appeal from Gangjeong Villagers:

Dear friends of Jeju Island,

On November 18th, the South Korean Navy will blast Gureombi, the smooth volcanic rock along the coastline of Gangjeong village where the local people have been fighting day and night almost for 5 years to stop the naval base. Please take 5 minutes to be part of this global collective effort to stop this destructive blast.

Jeju was recently selected among the New Seven Wonders of Nature, which with its UNESCO triple-crowned status makes the island among the world’s most precious cultural and national treasures. In addition, the marine ecosystem that lines Gureombi is an absolute preservation area designated by the South Korean government because of the many endangered species that inhabit Gureombi, including the red-clawed crab and soft coral. The spring water that bubbles up from Gureombi provides up to 80% of the drinking water for residents of Seogwipo City, the southern half of Jeju Island. The destruction of Gureombi threatens the surrounding marine life and the clean water that farmers and villagers depend upon for their survival.

Please take action now and send an email to Jeju Governor Woo urging him to halt the blast and construction of the naval base. The Jeju Island governor should protect Jeju’s pristine nature from being destroyed. Although Governor Woo has the authority to order the Navy to halt construction, he is overseeing the destruction of this pristine coastline.

Gangjeong villagers are pleading for our help to prevent the Gureombi blast at whatever cost. Your contacting the Governor now will not only encourage them but also help save their village and lives. As one villager says, “Gureombi is Gangjeong, Gangjeong is Gureombi.”

STOP the BLAST & write to Gov. Woo: lmw2828@jeju.go.kr!

Sample letter:

Dear Governor Woo,

You have the power to stop the blast of Gureombi, a government-designated absolute ecological preservation area. You also have the power to order the Navy to stop construction of the naval base and release innocent citizens. Will you leave behind a legacy of overseeing the destruction of a UNESCO preserve site and ancient Korean relics, or will you be remembered as a protector of democracy and peace on Jeju Island? Uphold your promise to those who elected you and stop the blast and construction immediately. We don’t want the ‘New Seven Wonders of Nature’ to be brutally destroyed.

Sincerely,

Related documentary movie:
☞ A Call Against Arms (al-Jazeera TV, 11.9)
For more info please check out:
☞ SAVE JEJU ISLAND

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The follwing piece is last Friday's editorial in Kyunghyang Shinmun:

Kim Jin-suk and Korea’s Citizens Create Hope

The complete conclusion of the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) affair, which had come to be symbolized by Kim Jin-suk and the “Bus of Hope” movement, 11 months after it first began, deserves recording as the first example of a successful ending to a redundancy problem in a single workplace that expanded into a political and social issue.

This incident has also left us with the lesson that the use of redundancy by firms, which has come to be regarded as something natural since the foreign exchange crisis, must inevitably be reined in when it diverges from rational standards and social common sense.

Having several times urged HHIC chairman Cho Nam-ho and ruling and opposition politicians to solve the problem, we welcome this labor-management agreement and hope that the industrial peace that was achieved with such difficulty will last.

HHIC workforce and management produced an agreement that essentially consisted of re-employing 94 fired workers within one year of an agreed date, and supporting their living costs in the meantime, in accordance with a recommendation from the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee.

The workforce and management also dropped all legal cases they had filed against each other, while agreeing to minimize civil damages cases.

Accordingly, Kim Jin-suk, Direction Committee member of the Busan branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who had occupied the top of a crane in protest for 309 days to demand the reversal of the redundancies, finally came down and put her feet back on the ground.

Her simple and tear-jerking desire to “warm [her] body in a Korean sauna and eat instant noodles” can now effectively become reality. Her devoted struggle has awoken the majority of people in Korean society, who had totally forgotten about it or done their best not to think about it, to precious values such as the dignity of human beings, the nobleness of labor, and the beauty of solidarity.

We once again express our respect for Kim’s strong will and her moving comradeship, and pray that the mental and physical pain she has suffered will rapidly heal.

Kim Jin-suk was not the only leading character in the “HHIC crane drama” that went on for 11 months. The nameless citizens from across Korea that traveled to HHIC’s shipyard in Busan during the five “Bus of Hope” trips, can also be regarded as stars just as important as Kim.

These ordinary citizens, who were neither professional activists nor famous people, shared the pain of the fired workers and sent up precious and beautiful fireworks of solidarity.

The awareness and practical action of these citizens, who took the pain of Kim Jin-suk and workers as their own, moved ruling party and opposition politicians alike, resulting in Cho Nam-ho’s appearance at a hearing before the Environment and Labor committee and a recommended plan from the National Assembly.

These citizens totally refused to bow in the face of ideological attacks from far-right conservative forces, who sarcastically dubbed the Bus of Hope the “Bus of Disturbance” and the “Bus of Despair,” and talked repeatedly of “left-wing protesters.” They stayed firm in the face of indiscriminate suppression by the police, and won.

Even if they were due to overwhelming public opinion, the serious efforts of politicians, who provided an important step toward resolution of the problem by holding a hearing and producing an arbitration plan, deserve appreciation. Prominent intellectuals in and outside Korea also supported Kim and the Bus of Hope movement.

Kim Jin-suk has ended her protest and this case is over, but what really counts is that the labor-management agreement that was produced after so many vicissitudes is faithfully implemented.

In particular, HHIC’s management team, which has gone back on agreements with its labor union several times in the past, must keep this at the forefront of its mind. The company management must be aware that if it overturns this agreement, which contains the blood, sweat and passion of numerous people, it will be entirely responsible for any unfortunate incidents that occur as a result.

The government and politicians, too, must hurry to revise laws and systems in order to prevent the excessive of inhumane redundancy. Let us hope that the strength in solidarity that was demonstrated by Kim Jin-suk and the “Bus of Hope” spread out to become hope that can project warmth into every corner of our society.

http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201111111352537&code=790101

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Y'day afternoon in front of Seoul's City Hall: "Thousands of activists hold the annualy 'Nationwide Workers’ Rally' hosted by Korea Confederation of Trade Unions. KCTU announced that there were approximately 40,000 participants in the event and that the rally was the largest over last six years since the Nationwide Worker’s Rally in 2005 (with 50,000 participants)" (Hankyoreh, 11.14)

And here're just some impressions from yesterday's events(*):

Since the early morning multiple protests by workers and citizens were held at several places in the S. Korean capital urging solidarity amongst the “99% standing against 1% of capitalism”... 

11AM in front of Seoul Stn:
 

1PM, only few meters away at least 8,000 workers gathered...

...and marched later (3PM) to Seoul City Hall plaza...

* More pics you can see here!!

Related reports:
☞ 전국노동자대회’, 4만여 노동자 서울시청 운집 (NewsCham, 11.13)
☞ 민주노총 “1%에 맞선 99%, 우리가 대안이다!” (KCTU, 11.13)
☞ 전국노동자대회 “이명박 정권, 한미FTA 강행하면 전면전 불가피” (VoP, 11.13)
☞ MB정권 저항 '4만개 촛불' 서울광장 태웠다 (OMN, 11.13)
 

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Impressions from yesterday's annual Workers Culture Festival in Seoul's Yeouido Park(*):

* More pics you can see here!

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According to Yonhap "Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction hammered out a tentative agreement with its unionized workers on Wednesday to end an 11-month-long labor dispute sparked by the shipmaker's massive layoffs..."

But in the afternoon it led only to renewed massive attacks by riot cops to end Kim Jin-suk's sit-in strike(*):

Korea Times reported the following about the latest developments (of course without to mention the police 'activities...):

Hanjin Heavy reaches tentative settlement

Labor and management of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to end the months-long labor dispute sparked by the shipbuilding company’s massive layoffs.

The agreement is expected to conclude the 11 month deadlock in talks between the two sides and also end the 300-day sit-in by female activist Kim Jin-suk on the 35-meter high operator’s seat of a 50-meter giant crane in the company’s Yeongdo shipyard in Busan.

The union has decided to put the tentative agreement to a vote of all unionists today. Union leaders originally planned to hold the vote Wednesday but delayed it after police moved to take Kim into custody upon descending.

“We are going to hold the general meeting of unionists in the morning on Thursday and put the accord to a vote at 2 p.m.,” a union leader said.

Kim is expected to come down the crane today in the wake of the vote.

Police said they planned to take her into custody when she comes down the crane with an arrest warrant which was issued sometime ago.
 

The union leader said, “We agreed with management that when Kim descends, she will hold a media briefing and union members will guide her to the shipyard gate and hand her over to police.”

Earlier in the morning, the two sides concurred that the company would rehire 94 dismissed workers within a year ― a solution proposed by the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee last month to conclude the relentless standoff, officials from the company and labor union said.

If union members vote for the agreement, the dismissed employees are expected return to work around next November.

Management said it will give 20 million won to each of the laid-off employees as living expenses during the one-year suspension period in accordance with a proposal made by the Assembly and accepted by company Chairman Cho Nam-ho. It will offer 10 million won first and pay the rest in three installments.

The union and management will also drop all lawsuits and complaints they filed against each other.

“The agreement will take effect when activist Kim descends the crane. Kim said she would come down if union members vote to accept the agreement,” the union leader said.

A company official also said management will acknowledge the tentative agreement as a final one when Kim leaves the crane.

The Hanjin Heavy union launched a strike on Dec. 20 last year to protest the company’s plan to lay off 400 workers as part of cost-cutting measures. Kim, a member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, climbed the crane on Jan. 6 and began her sit-in protest.

The labor dispute involved not only management and the union but also an umbrella union, labor and human rights groups, and even political parties. Supporters of the protesters visited the shipyard on five occasions on buses called “Hope Buses” from all around the country, with violent clashes occurring between protesters and police officers.

Even after the union ended the strike in June, the two sides didn’t reach an agreement. Among the first 400 workers who had faced being laid off, 306 decided to retire, while the remainder was dismissed. Early last month, the National Assembly made a mediation proposal which Cho accepted, and finally a tentative accord emerged.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/11/117_98460.html

* Related articles:
☞ 경찰, 85호크레인 난입...한진중 조합원 총회 무산 (NewsCham, 11.9)
☞ 경찰, 85호 크레인 밑에 새까맣게... (OMN, 11.9)


 

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Y'day, according to several sources(*), 12 Korean human right/KCTU members were arrested in Gyeongju, east of the S. Korean city Daegu. The were arrested while defending a number of 'undocumented' migrant workers (eight of them were arrested in that process) against the current crackdown.

MTU published (unfortunalelly only on its FB site...) today the following short report: "Our Korean supporters and friends, defending and trying to prevent the arrest of the undocumented workers in Gyeongsan. 8 undocumented were detained and 8 Korean activists were arrested in the process. Another 4 Korean activist were arrested by the police in Gyeongsan earlier in the day"

* Related reports (in the independet media):
☞ 7일 경주에서 12명 단속, 항의하던 인권단체회원 12명 연행 (NewsCham, 11.8)
☞ '미등록 이주노동자 단속 항의' 시민단체 회원 집단 연행 (OMN, 11.8)
☞ "반인권적 '이주노동자' 불법단속, 즉각 중단을" (PeaceNews, 11.8)

Related articles (in the bourgeois media):
☞ 경찰, 불법체류자 단속 막은 노조원 연행 (대구일보, 11.8)
☞ 대구경찰, 불법체류자 단속 항의 8명 입건… (중앙일보, 11.8)
 

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While the rest of the world is "crippled by economic and political crises"(KCNA) North Korea, aka DPRK, is jumping from one victory to the next(^^), on its way to finalize the establishment of the GREAT STRONG & PROSPEROUS NATION('강성대국') in the beginning of next year (the 100th birthday of the "Eternal President" and "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung)...

Last weekend the German (bourgeois reactionary) newspaper Die Welt published the following impressions(*), made by the US-American photographer David Guttenfelder) about the happy life(^^) in DPRK's (invincible)"Korean-style Socialism"(will be immortal):
 

* More impressive pics you can see here!!

Related pics:
☞ Inside North Korea (The Atlantic, 8.02)

Related article(MUST READ!!):
☞ North Korea nears age of affluence (Asia Times, 8.11)

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Here'e some more nocturnal impressions(*) from Chungshin-dong "redevelopment" zone in Seoul's Jongno District (not far away from Daehak-no, resp. Dongdaemun):

* More pics you can see here!!