Do not kill any more" - Two more workers burn themselves after late Kim Joo-Ik
27th October, 2003
It had been less than a week since Kim Joo-Ik, President of Hanjin Heavy Industries Union committed self-immolation, that Lee Hae-Nam, President of Sewon Tech Union (affiliated to the Korean Metal Workers Federation) also attempted to burn himself to death. Lee Hae-Nam lies in a hospital, in a very critical condition.
Only a few days have passed, and today, we had to face another sacrifice.
Today, 26th October, during the National Irregular Workers Rally, held to struggle for the rights of irregular workers, Lee Yong-Seok, President of the Kwangju Branch of Korea Labor Welfare Corporation Irregular Workers Union sprayed an inflammable liquid onto himself and lit a flame in self-immolation while shouting, "Stop discrimination against irregular workers!" He is in the hospital, his life on the line.
On 23rd October at around 20:50, Lee Hae-Nam went to the front of the office building of Sewon Corporation (the headoffice of Sewon Tech) where the executives were working. In his will he said, "I cannot forgive Kim Moon-Ki, president of Sewon Group" and "although I know this is not the right way, and though many comrades will speak ill of me, I have no other choice but to choose the extreme way, death." He continued, "Although it will be long and hard, we must protect our dream and hope, our democratic union... You must not make any arrangements for my body until you have solved the problems around Hyun-Joong's funeral." (Lee Hyun-Joong, also from the same union, was severly beaten in 2002 by thugs employed by the company. He died from the side-effects exactly two months ago, on 26th August, 2003)
What drove Lee Hae-Nam to choose a method as extreme as self-immolation was the brutal repression on the union that capital of Sewon have been implementing, and the irrational repression of the Roh Moo-Hyun regime. The Sewon workers have been suffering from low-wages, where they could only earn about 800,000 won per month even after having worked extra hours. Unable to bear the terrible working conditions, the workers decided in October 2001 to form a union and join the Korea Metal Workers Federation. At this, the company hired 150 thugs and drove unionists from their workplace. In 2002, the company reorganised itself and introduced an 'union destruction scenario'. According to this scenario, the company will form strategies to break up strikes, sue the union, and issue seizure of the property/wage of unionists. They are to also force members to leave the union.
Lee Yong-Seok, who committed self-immolation today, participated as a member in the collective bargaining committee of the Labor Welfare Corporation Irregular Workers Union. There was no progress in the negotiations with the corporation while the Ministry of Labor refused to come up with any solutions. The union asked for the first negotiation in May this year, however, the corporation did not respond. The corporation only responded after arbitration from the Labor Commission in August. Even then, it is known that the corporation would not come up with any solutions and repeatedly said, "It is natural to discriminate irregular workers." Lee Yong-Seok had led the resistance in the process by mobilising in front of the Ministry of Labour.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions cannot but express remorse at the self-immolation of Kim Joo-Ik, Lee Hae-Nam and Lee Yong-Seok, and we sincerely hope that there will be no more sacrifice of lives of our precious workers. We also cannot swallow down our anger at the repression of capital and the Roh Moo-Hyun government, both of which have driven the workers to take their own lives.
These three workers are not the only ones. After Roh Moo-Hyun came into power, Bae Dal-Ho from Doosan Heavy Industries sacrificed his life in resistance against the company's repression on the union, followed by Park Dong-Joon from Daehan Synthetic Fiber Union. If capital and the government do not stop their repression of the workers, we do not know how many more lives will be sacrificed.
The KCTU has decided that we can no longer wait for the government and capital to 'release' their noose. We feel terror at the prospect that we may have to send more of our comrades away from us. Thus, we have decided to struggle.
We demand that the government and capital stop the repressive neoliberal attack on the workers and that they stop their irrational and unjust acts. Moreover, we demand the stop to discrimination of irregular workers -the demand of Lee Yong-Seok- and protection of their basic rights. This is the only way that the extreme self-immolation of the workers can be stopped. The KCTU will not despair but will fight to the end.
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU)
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Another worker driven to his death in Korea.
On the morning of 17th of October, Kim Joo-Ik, President of the Hanjin Heavy Industries Union, was found dead on top of a crane within the factory grounds in Pusan, Korea. He had hung himself in the early hours, on the 129th day of a one-man sit-down demonstration on top of the 45 meter apparatus. He had started the demonstration on the 11th of June to protest against the company's policies toward the workers. Two heart-breaking notes found inside his pocket, one to his fellow workers and the other to his family, demonstrated beyond a doubt the reasons for his actions.
In the first note, the deceased lashed out against the company management, citing their dual policy of repressing the workers and the trade union while generously compensating top management and share-holders. He questioned how workers could be expected to accept wage-freezes when the company was earning record profits, with management and major share-holders reaping the gains. The long history of oppression against the workers and the trade union, insincere negotiation practices, layoffs and job changes for trade union activists, and wage levels not enough to cover living costs were all mentioned in his note. But perhaps at the heart of Kim and the workers grievances were the new tactics which the company had employed to repress workers.
Korean companies have started to sue individual workers for compensation for 'damages' suffered during industrial disputes and have seized property in the process, taking away trade union fees, wages, and as in the case of Kim, even his house. The desperateness resulting from having his livelihood, as well as his right as a trade unionist to stand for the interests of the workers taken away, must have weighed heavily on his mind as he prepared to take his last, and final action for the workers. Such actions on the part of management was the main reason why another worker took his own life earlier this year.
In a tragically similar incident, Bae Dal-Ho at Doosan Heavy Industries also took his life by self immolation in January of this year, in retaliation against the company's practice of seizing the trade union leadership's property and suing for damages from previous industrial actions. The government had promised to curb such actions by companies after a lengthy struggle by the working class in January and February, but as the death of Kim shows, there haven't been any concrete measures to follow up on the promise. The government has even been at the forefront of such actions, as the mass lawsuits against the National Railway Corporation, a public enterprise, clearly shows.
In a moving second message to his fellow workers, Kim called on them to "continue the struggle," as the only way to "defend the trade union and the workers' livelihood." He goes on to say that "my body can only stay at crane #85...until this struggle ends in victory."
After his death became known and the contents of the notes in his pocket became public, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions immediately denounced the government and the corporations for continuing and tolerating the various practices of trade union oppression and called for measures to stop the recurrence of such actions. The KCTU has formed a national emergency committee, which includes Korean People's Solidarity, the Korean Democratic Labor Party, and other people's movement organizations. They held their first demonstration today, and will hold nation-wide rallies this week and the next. Meanwhile, the body of Kim, with the consent of his family, remains on top of the crane according to his wish.
Kim Joo-Ik, aged 39, is survived by his wife Park Sung-Hee, two sons aged 12 and 7(Joon-Yup and Joon-Ha), and a 10 year old daughter(Hye-Min). The up-coming struggle will decide if his message to the people of Korea survives.
[Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU)]
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Unions Rail Against ``Unjust'' Suits Lodged by Employers
Korea Times, 26th Oct 2003
Amid a string of suicides and suicide attempts by its leadership, the nation¡¯s unionized workers are getting set launch an all-out protest against what they call the government¡¯s hard-line labor policy. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), an umbrella organization covering many of the country¡¯s unions, said yesterday it will use its November 3 meeting to decide whether to stage a general strike next month. It is demanding the government take steps to prevent companies from filing compensation suits against union leaders to pay for damages incurred by labor walkouts.
Suicides by unionists have continued to jolt the labor sector this year, starting with an incident in January when a Doosan Heavy Industries unionist burned himself to death protesting ``unacceptable¡¯¡¯ labor conditions.
On Oct. 17, a union leader of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. hanged himself. That was followed by another incident last Thursday when a union leader of Sewon Technology Company, Ltd. also attempted self-immolation. He is currently in critical condition.
All three unionists had faced large compensation suits initiated by their employers and had their assets seized.
In the most recent incident, a protestor attempted to set himself on fire at a KCTU rally in Seoul yesterday. The man was trying to attract attention to the plight of irregular workers and was transferred to a nearby hospital where he is in a serious condition.
KCTU spokesman, Sohn Nark-Koo pleaded for change to stop these tragedies.
``Unionists are only expressing their right to take labor action, rights similar to those in other countries. But here, it is possible for companies in some cases to punish even the families of the workers. The law should change and the compensation suits should stop.¡±
According to the KCTU, unionists at 46 workplaces in the country have been hit with compensation suits or faced provisional seizures of their assets worth more than 130 billion won ($110 million).
Normally used as a tactic to pressure union leaders to succumb to management, the suits bring irreversible suffering to the individuals and their families and must be restricted to ensure basic labor rights, Sohn said.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), another major umbrella organization for unions, also criticized the government for allowing the compensation suits and asset seizures, saying it is pushing union workers to their death and weakening union activities. It said it would stage a major rally on Nov. 23 in Seoul with 100,000 members set to take part.