hankyoreh

Two of the five members of the FineTek (a subsidiary of Starflex) chapter of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union are continuing their aerial sit-in demonstration against the company’s unjust termination of workers on top of a smokestack. The sit-in has been going on since Nov. 12, 2017, when Hong Gi-tak, a former worker at FineTek and former leader of the union chapter, and secretary-general Park Jun-ho began their “smokestack sit-in” at a combined heat and power plant in Seoul’s Mok neighborhood, calling for the company to keep its promise regarding a collective agreement and keeping workers on the payroll. On Nov. 12 this year, a group of leaders in South Korea’s religious community gathered outside Starflex’s headquarters to demand that the company keep its promise, referring to the issue as one of human values versus capitalist ideology.