hankyoreh

It was early in the morning on Jan. 6 when Kim Jin-suk ascended Crane No. 85 at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction‘s Yeongdo shipyard in Busan. From a precarious position 35 meters in the air, the Direction Committee member from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ Busan office took a stand with all her strength to call upon HHIC to withdraw its unjust layoff plans. She persevered through an unusually harsh winter and the following spring and summer into the fall. Yesterday, she marked the 300th day of her aerial protest. Now the cold winds of another harsh winter lie in wait before her.

Those 300 days provide an indication of how inhuman South Korea’s pariah capitalism is, how greatly labor is disregarded here, and how firm the alliance of interests is among the Lee Myung-bak administration, corporations, and the conservative media. A National Assembly hearing has clearly shown that HHIC’s layoffs are essentially an abuse and a far cry from the “urgent economic necessity” claimed by the company. For this reason, ruling and opposition party members of the National Assembly‘s Environment and Labor Committee unanimously established a recommendation on Oct. 7, one that HHIC Chairman Cho Nam-ho was obliged to accept.

But in labor-management negotiations since Oct. 11, the company has rejected union demands for acknowledgement of the layoff period in the workers’ term of service, the recalculation of severance pay, and the payment of school expenses. Instead, it has stubbornly insisted on a written apology from Kim Jin-suk. Interest from the mainstream politicians who once raged about the HHIC situation and salvos against Cho from the conservative press have already long since quietly disappeared.

But Kim’s 300 days also provide an object lesson about what kind of struggle and solidarity is needed if the values of humanity and labor are to be restored. The five Hope Bus Campaigns that have traveled to Busan since June have given a clear sense of the power of solidarity and hope for a world where workers are respected, one without unjust terminations and irregular employment. They were expression of the righteous anger of the 99% toward the rapaciousness of the 1%. Since the HHIC layoff matter has not yet been resolved, a sixth Hope Bus Campaign will be making its way to Busan on Nov. 26 for the National Workers’ Rally.

The solution to the HHIC situation is obvious: Cho Nam-ho, who already accepted the recommendation, needs to take real responsibility and negotiate with the union. The National Labor Relations Commission and the Ministry of Employment and Labor also need to actively mediate the negotiations to ensure that the spirit of the National Assembly’s recommendation is upheld, and the union needs to show a willingness to compromise. Let’s help Kim Jin-suk come down from the crane. It is against civility toward humanity and labor to allow her to spend another winter there.

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