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On Jan. 7, 46 dismissed workers from Ssangyong Motor hold a press conference after their first day back to work since their unjust dismissal over 10 years ago. (Lee Jung-ha, Incheon correspondent )

The daughter personally knitted the scarf for her father without anyone else’s help as he prepared to return to work for the first time in over a decade. It was a “back-to-work present” to the father who had endured years of anguish as a dismissed worker from the period she was an elementary school student until she was in college. The snow-white scarf was tied around the neck of Cho Moon-gyeong, 57, at 8 am on Jan. 7 as he stood before the front entrance of the Ssangyong Motor head office in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

“I wasn’t going to cry, but my eyes are tearing up because it’s raining. It’s supposed to be a happy day, but I’m feeling frustrated now because I received notice from the company on Dec. 24 that my reinstatement was being postponed. I’m going to go inside the building to continue the fight.”

These were the words of Lee Deok-hwan, 49, as he returned to work 10 years and seven months after his dismissal. As he shared his sad pledge, Cho’s eyes began to well up as well. A winter drizzle fell in front of the Ssangyong Motor entrance, where a ceremony was being held that day to present celebratory flowers to the last remaining 46 Ssangyong Motor workers to return to work after being dismissed.

The 46 were originally let go on June 8, 2009. Their return came 3,865 days after their dismissal. It should have been a welcome return, but the workers were forced instead to share messages of struggle. On Christmas Eve of last year, the company unilaterally notified them that their reinstatement was being postponed, citing deteriorating business performance. The workers responded to the company’s broken promise by reporting to work anyway.

“We’re going to swallow the anger over the company’s postponement announcement and report to work to insist on our division placement and assignment of duties,” said Kim Deuk-jung, a former head of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) Ssangyong Motor chapter who was among those heading to work that day. After having their employee numbers and identities checked at the entrance, the workers headed into the factory that day.

Inside the building, around a dozen workers who were previously reinstated in January 2019 protested the company’s indefinite leave decision with a banner reading, “This is too much. Place the workers now.”

“It weighs too heavily on me for me to congratulate my 46 colleagues on their first day back,” said Kim Seon-dong, 52, who was reinstated on Jan. 3 of last year.

“How can a worker receive pay without doing any kind of work? We intent to work fairly and be paid for our work,” he declared.

The reinstatement of the dismissed Ssangyong workers was the result of a “great social compromise.” On Sept. 14, 2018, a decision to reinstate all of the workers dismissed from Ssangyong in 2009 was reached by the company, the company union, the Ssangyong chapter of KMWU (representing the dismissed workers), and the Economic, Social and Labor Council (representing the government). The agreement was spearheaded by labor and management, with the government pledging to provide support for operations.

But as of late December, the promise to reinstate all of the workers had not been kept. On Dec. 24, Ssangyong Motor sent text messages to the 46 remaining workers notifying them that they were on “indefinite leave,” citing deteriorating business performance.

“The reinstatement decision for the 46 workers on leave was made in July of last year, and they will be receiving 70% pay as of this year,” the company explained. “These are the same conditions as the clerical workers, who are on rotational leave.”

Meeting with the reinstated workers that day, Ssangyong Motor CEO Yea Byung-tae said, “Owing to the company’s business situation, the department placement [of the 46 returning workers] has been postponed.”

“The company plans to do what it can, so we want to ask you to wait just a bit longer,” he said.

A Ssangyong Motor official explained, “Performance last year was not good, and it’s difficult to create positions for the returning workers to fill.”

The Ssangyong Motor union urged the company to honor its promise, decrying the “unjust failure to uphold the Sept. 14 agreement by the two unions, the company, and the government.”

“If the 46 workers are not assigned duties, we plan to pursue all available legal avenues, including requesting restitution for improper leave from the Gyeonggi office of the National Labor Relations Commission and a court injunction on payment of the difference in wages,” the union said.

For now, the 46 workers plan to report to work every day to continue their battle. After a difficult decade, the fight is not yet over.

By Lee Jung-ha, Incheon correspondent

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