[Analysis] Hope Bus riders’ numbers multiply thousand-fold as Day 200 arrives

Posted on : 2011-07-25 21:18 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Preparations for third caravan underway as more identify with South Korea’s precarious workforce
 July 12. (Photo courtesy of Hungying Chen)
July 12. (Photo courtesy of Hungying Chen)

By tammy ko Robinson

July 24 marks the passage of the 200-day anniversary of the aerial sit-in strike being waged by Kim Jin-suk, the 51-year old former employee of Hanjin and current Direction Committee member for the Busan chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and other union members.

From atop the No. 85 crane’s cab at the company’s Yeongdo Shipbuilding Yard in Busan, Kim has been joined in symbolic support by members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Federation (KMWF). She has been living 35 m in the sky since January 6 protesting the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) announcement made on Dec.15, 2010 of a reduction in force plan for 400 of its workers. Not long after the company notified workers, a small number of its large shareholders saw dividends of 17 billion Won ($16.1 million), more than three times the combined annual salaries of the 170 workers who have refused to comply. It is said during the strike in January, management fired 290 manufacturing workers, who had not applied for resignation. Over the past decade, HHIC has made profits of 430 billion Won.

On July 9, a total of over 175 “Hope Buses” and 50 vans approximating the number of days of Kim has been occupying Crane No. 85 arrived from cities and regions outside of Busan including Gwangju, Pyeongtaek, Daegu, Suwon, and Seoul carrying approximately 10,000 ordinary citizens. All convened in Busan’s Central Bus Terminal in an attempt to carry to Kim Jin-suk messages of hope. From there the Hope Bus Riders were met en route with 2,000 police officers blocking the last 700 meters to the Yeongdo Shipbuilding Yard with a temporary barricade and a mixture of liquid tear gas and pepper spray, nearly 3,000 Hope Bus Riders remained steadfast and outdoors in the monsoon rains all night determined to act as witnesses for Kim Jin-suk’s well being. As a point of comparison, the first Hope Bus caravan held on the 158-day anniversary of the HHIC struggle was comprised of approximately 750 participants.

Mid-July to mid-August is considered a time when many within South Korea make their summer vacation travel plans, and some have found it striking that an unprecedented and exponentially increasing number are willing to take their time and pay the 30,000 Won roundtrip bus fee to see Kim Jin-suk. While certain buses in the caravan were themed according to regions or special interests, all were united in a motto aspiring towards “A World Without Layoffs and Temporary Workers.” Key organizers are citing that growing popular concern for Kim revolves around the collective memory of Hanjin Union leader Kim Ju-ik’s act of suicide while on the same Crane 85 during a strike in 2003, and the death of an imprisoned Hanjin Trade Union President Park Chang-su in 1991. 

A Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) report cites 2010 as the most stable in terms of industrial relations where wage and collective bargaining was concluded without resorting to a strike since the IMF bailout. In contrast, labor experts are accounting this year‘s statistics and an upsurge in popular support for union-led protests as linked to the recent student-led struggle to reduce university tuition fees, and an ongoing lack of faith in the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) deal that is due up before the National Assembly this August. Public demonstrations of this size and characterized by inter-regional and cross-sector participation have not been seen since the summer 2008 candlelight vigil demonstrations, which grew to nearly 100,000 in South Korea’s major urban centers.

HHIC Case Draws International Attention

As the number of ordinary citizens, students, women and young children participating as Hope Bus Riders grows, attention is turning to see what civil society leaders and lawmakers are doing to bring about a resolution and to bring clarity to the various employment and labor issues that undergird it.

Specific to the HHIC case, arrest warrants for union leaders have been issued and some 50 supporters for the July 9-10 action were arrested and fined. These included Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Chairwoman Lee Jung-hee, who had to be rushed to the hospital after being tear gassed, Former New Progressive Party Chairman Shim Sang-jung, and National Farmers Federation Chair Lee Gwang-seok. HHIC is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the workers and individuals for 5.3 billion won in damages under South Korea’s Penal Code 314, or “Obstruction of Business.” The National Assembly’s Labor Affairs Committee have meanwhile twice requested the presence of HHIC’s Chairman Cho Nam-ho to explain the labor dispute, but he has remained overseas citing business reasons.

During the July 9-10 action, announcements were made periodically about HHIC management’s violation of the internal agreement on employment and protection against outsourcing that stipulates not firing workers at the Busan plant as long as its overseas plants are in operation. Not only has HHIC‘s shipyard in Subic Bay, the Philippines been busy, but also projections of sales for 2012 have been positive.

Despite challenges to solidarity due to intraregional differences, joint actions and messages of support are flowing from the Philippines to Kim Jin-suk. Indeed workers in the plant in the Philippines have engaged in a comparable “Caravan for Decent Work and Human Working Conditions” and on July 3, 50 vehicles traveled to both the Korean Embassy and the Hanjin National Office in Fort Bonifacio. The report back from members of the South Korean delegation to the Philippines consisting of Kyung Choon Kim, a dismissed Busan HHIC worker, and Hyewon Chong, of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union relayed resonant concerns across plants over workplace safety and other labor rights violations. The labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) cites 5,000 accidents and at least 31 deaths have occurred due to poor working conditions and the denial of workers’ right to self organization since Hanjin began its Philippine operations in 2006.

In addition to concern expressed from the workers in the Philippines, according to the International Metalworkers’ Federation, protest letters have been sent in from unions in Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, Italy, India, Norway, Pakistan, Canada and Germany. Concurrently, the US-based AFL-CIO have cited the events at Hanjin in their request to U.S. representatives to refuse consideration of a proposed free trade agreement with South Korea until the fundamental rights of South Korean workers to organize and bargain collectively are respected.

Analysts are saying the situation surrounding HHIC is growing attention both domestically and internationally as the wage disparity is deepening in Asia‘s fourth-biggest economy, with the top 20 percent of income earners taking home nearly three quarters of the earnings reported. There is some questioning whether South Korea is a good place to do business together with the behavior of Korean multinationals, and are citing this growing spotlight on HHIC as indicative of some of the biggest issues confronting Lee Myung-bak in the final stretch of his presidency.

Precarious Workers’ Situation in South Korea Indicator of a Global Issue

The HHIC situation is proving to be an interesting test case for the implementation of the multiple union system/union pluralism that went into effect July 1, allowing multiple labor unions at the same company. Within the first two weeks of July, 167 new unions have been created. An agreement announced between HHIC labor and management in late June included canceling criminal cases and accusations on both sides but no withdrawal of the layoffs is said to have spurred a break between unionists regarding representation. According to a MOEL report, a total of 91 percent (152) of these have been created at workplaces that already have a union, and include metalworkers’ and builders’ unions.

In 2009, the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concerns about the effects of the amendment to the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (TULRAA) that regulates the formation of trade unions as well as collective bargaining on the labor relations environment, including the multiple union system and the banning of wage payment of full-time union officials who in turn can only be recipients of paid time-off for union activities. Some unionists have indicated enthusiasm for the establishment of new unions for workers in corporations that are said to have installed a phantom union under the previous “one company, one union” rule, while others remain concerned about what labor laws remain that prohibit labor solidarity or otherwise ameliorates labor-labor conflict. Some like Oh Min-gyu, who work on behalf of the national council of Temporary Worker Unions, are specific in pointing out the ongoing practice of illegal dispatch employment and difficulty temporary workers and in-house subcontracting workers have in being recognized as workers.

As a result, some experts are saying this case is better understood as part of the sea change of employment conditions in South Korea that has been effected since the economic crisis of 1997, and comparably in the US in the 1980s when work became less stable and corporate demands for flexibility deteriorated any expectations of lifelong employment. The U.N.’s ILO documents outlines that precarious work in South Korea since this period includes a differentiation between short-term and fixed-term work, special employment, and indirect employment where employee relations are disguised.

Minor opposition People’s Participation Party (PPP) Chairman Rhyu Si-min issued an apology earlier this month within a published interview with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) for his labor flexibility policies enacted during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. To offer some context, some analysts point to the Act Relating to Protection, etc. for Dispatched Workers, which was adopted Feb. 1998 and legalizes temporary work (dispatched work) for jobs requiring expertise, special skills or experience selected by Presidential Decree. The Act in essence outlines how equal treatment of permanent and fixed term contractors is not legally assured, and some say has been since used to justify an expansion and exploitation of the temporary workforce.

Currently, the different workers participating as Hope Bus Riders is telling of the situation of South Korea‘s various precarious workers. Ten workers fired from the Ssangyong Motor in 2009 who worked an average of 10-15 years at the factor joined and engaged in the 77-day Pyeongtaek autoplant strike against mass-layoff together with workers engaged in long-term struggles from YPR and Valeo Compressor have joined the Hope Bus Riders. In terms of these Ssangyong workers and their reasons for solidarity, some are suggesting that in the two years since the dramatic resolution reached on Aug. 6 of 2009, Ssangyong Motor’s has been acquired by India’s Mahindra Group and automobile sales are looking up, but measures for laid-off workers have still not been forthcoming. In effect, an estimated 400 workers still remain on unpaid leave.

These Ssangyong Motor workers have been joined by thirty in-house subcontracting workers at the nearby Hyundai Motor Ulsan plant, the world’s largest automobile factor, who lost their jobs after demanding conversion from irregular dispatch worker status to regular worker status. In the case of Hyundai workers in contrast to the mood of depression that is being felt by SSanyong Motor workers, KCTU International Director Ryu Mikyung is saying there is now a ray of light for those affected by indirect employment or disguised employee relations following a July 2010 ruling to reinstate the workers. The Supreme Court says, “Hyundai Motor’s in-house subcontracting corresponds to illegal temporary employment disguised as subcontracting and as such, the court views those workers who have been employed for more than two years as being directly employed by Hyundai Motor according to the Temporary Workers Act.” Its ruling states, “Whereas other temporary workers, including contract and dispatch workers, have legal protections, no regulations exist for in-house subcontracting.”

Large corporations involved in industries such as automobiles, shipbuilding, electronics and steels are increasingly engaged in in-house subcontracting, paying half what regular workers make.

KCTU’s Ryu says there is a growing trend of “no regular employee factories,” and are demanding that the Temporary Workers Act be enforced as corporations are dispatching workers to perform certain categories of work which should be restricted. Ryu estimates that 21,000 working in HHIC’s plant in Subic are employed as a result of in-house subcontracting and as a result, the company fails to recognize them.

U.S. UNC-Chapel Hill Professor Arne Kalleberg, an expert who has written extensively on contemporary labor issues says, “These standard employment relations have historically been the basis for labor laws and social protections. Employers often try to dismantle these standard employment relations by hiring temporary and dispatched workers and by subcontracting and outsourcing work in order to avoid responsibility for workers’ protections.” Some analysts estimate the precarious workforce in the U.S. totals 29 percent of the entire workforce, and many such as Kalleberg are proposing that South Korea‘s government could learn from other countries such as Germany or Sweden in terms of developing policies to address these issues. For HHIC workers, recommendations would include regularizing all workers and restrict the category of work that requires temporary workers, and some supporters are hoping HHIC follows the lead of German automaker Volkswagen. In contrast with the case of Hyundai last year, the largest European carmaker hired 400 dispatch workers as regular employees and agreed to a wage deal to keep pace with inflation.

Third Hope Bus Caravan Preparations Underway as Minimum Wage and Employment Concerns Mount

Indicators suggest economic and employments conditions may be worsening within South Korea when an increasingly precarious labor market is taken into consideration with a widening disparity in ability to afford education, healthcare and housing. According to The Korea International Labour Foundation (KOILAF), The Minimum Wage Council has just announced an increase in the minimum hourly wage rate of 260 Won higher than the current 4,320 Won. Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Chae-Pil is expected to confirm by Aug. 5. However, the Minimum Wage Alliance, including KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), is countering, “The [new] minimum wage fails to take account of reality facing low-paid workers.” The Alliance is concerned that the minimum wage is often taken as an upper limit of wages for precarious workers who might receive only half of the wage regular workers receive, and are insisting on a raise to 5,410 Won which is more reflective of the average wage of all workers.

Moreover, the government has released a report that the jobless rate among those aged 15-29 was 7.6 percent last month, down from 8.3 percent a year earlier. It was, however, up from 7.3 percent tallied in the previous month, and some analysts suggest these numbers hide one of several mismatches that are especially important to understand now regarding precarious work, and why so many have young and also mothers are feeling drawn to become Hope Bus Riders.

According to research conducted by Professor Kalleberg, mismatches include: over-education where college graduates for example are unable to find skilled jobs in the economy; earnings mismatches where people work in jobs that do not provide sufficient levels of wages to satisfy their needs and those of their families; work-family mismatches in which people are unable to have enough flexibility on their jobs to take care of their families’ needs; and under-working in which people are not able to work enough hours to earn as much money as they need. Kalleberg states, “Precarious and insecure workers are especially vulnerable to earnings mismatches and work-family mismatches.”

On the arrival of Day 200, the actions of Hope Bus Riders are being joined with a petition from leaders of faith including Protestant Churches, Buddhist Orders, and Catholic Dioceses from all over South Korea, members of the press, university professors, lawyers and leaders of civil society asking for a resolution and pledging to join the third caravan being planned for July 30-31 if necessary.

  

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

 

 

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