hankyoreh

　　During a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh following a support and solidarity visit byparticipants in the third campaign, “Hope Buses for a World without Layoffs or TemporaryWorkers,” Kim Jin-suk, a 51-year-old member of the Direction Committee at the Busan office ofthe Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), called the move a “measure that has notbeen taken in the past to throw the brakes on the proliferation of layoffs and temporary work thathas become widespread in South Korean society over the past fourteen years or so.”

　Hankyoreh: How do you think the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) layoff issue should be solved?

　Kim Jin-suk: The past fourteen years since [South Korea] received a relief loan from theInternational Monetary Fund in December 1997 have seen one mass layoff after another and anexcessive proliferation of temporary employment. The business sector and employers routinelyengage in illegal firing according to the logic of restructuring, yet they have only succeeded inincreasing the amount of irregular employment with in-house subcontractors, contract workers,dispatch workers, and the like. I will not leave this crane until we have established some startingpoint for changing this situation. The HHIC layoffs have gone beyond the level of a singlecompany’s issue.

　H: Some are saying that you are waging an extreme battle with your life

　KJS: The labor sector has never won against layoffs with a proper fight. I definitely intend to winthis time, because the mass layoffs at HHIC represent an incident that clearly shows our currentreality of companies unhesitatingly producing layoffs after layoffs.

　H: When you will be coming down?

　KJS: I will come down once the layoff plan is withdrawn. [HHIC Chairman] Cho Nam-ho needs toend his trip overseas for evasive purposes.

　H: Will you end your protest if the 94 people who were laid off after refusing to resignvoluntarily are reinstated?

　KJS: After first verifying whether it is in fact true that 76 of the 170 people laid off resignedvoluntarily, I will discuss the matter with the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, our umbrellaorganization, and make a decision after that.

　H: Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction is claiming that your aerial protest representsthird-party involvement.

　KJS: I am a worker who was the only one not reinstated after being fired from HHIC‘s previousincarnation, and I am a member of the Direction Committee at the Busan office of the KCTU,where the HHIC union is a member. I am an interested party. The real third-party involvement is from the city of Busan, which is organizing local government and conservative groups behind the scenes and taking the side of the company.

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