[Editorial] A suicide protest of a cargo transport worker

Posted on : 2009-05-05 12:28 KST Modified on : 2009-05-05 12:28 KST

Park Jong-tae, first chapter head of the Gwangju chapter of Korea Cargo Transport Workers‘ Union (KCTWU), has taken his own life. Park, who was waging a struggle to reinstate delivery drivers for the Gwangju branch of Korea Express, was found dead near a Korea Express distribution center in Daejeon. He had left his wife a note saying, “We must win the dark fight, but it seems like the times demand death from the worker.” In a writing he left on April 29 on the web site of the Gwangju city chapter of the Democratic Labor Party, he indicated that he intended to sacrifice his life to defend the KCTWU, and lead it to victory against efforts by Korea Express and public authorities to bring it down.

Despite the nearly 40 years that have passed since Jeon Tae-il committed suicide by self-immolation in the 1970s, calling for guarantees of the three basic labor rights, Park’s death shows that little has changed in the reality of labor in South Korea. This is especially true for the situation of irregular workers and of ‘specially-employed’ laborers like Park. Jobs are taken away left and right under the pretext of labor flexibility, and while people who are effectively laborers are classified as private operators and denied the protections of the Labor Law, neither employers nor South Korean society at large have shown proper attention to their struggle.

This is especially evident in this situation, which began on March 16 when Korea Express informed 78 delivery drivers who were bargaining for a delivery fee increase that their contracts were being terminated. According to accounts by these drivers, an oral agreement to raise the fee by 30 won per delivery was given by Korea Express in January, but then it unilaterally declared the agreement null and void on March 15. When the drivers protested and refused to sort goods, which they had previously done for free, they received notification of contract terminations in mobile phone text messages the very next day.

Members of the KCTWU’s Gwangju chapter suspect that Korea Express had planned several measures in advance to bring down the KCTWU. The measures targeted Gwangju, which has the largest number of labor union members in Korea Express. Substitute vehicles were introduced as soon as the terminations were announced and delivery drivers were told that withdrawal from the KCTWU was a precondition for dialogue.

The primary factor driving Park to his death was likely such inhumane measures from Korea Express. The government, too, cannot evade some of the responsibility as it continues neglects to address the uncertain employment situation of specially employed laborers. Last year at the time of the KCTWU strike, the government said it would establish basic countermeasures, but it was simply giving lip service. It is difficult to resolve the issue of specially employed workers without recognizing that they are indeed laborers and legally guaranteeing them the status of laborers, or some corresponding status. A fundamental solution must be sought, so that Park’s death will not have been in vain.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]