hankyoreh

000 won Solidarity at the Busan Ilbo offices at 7 pm on Feb. 12.

By Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent

In July 2012, a man surnamed Lee, 55, who worked with patients at a hospital and nursing home operated by Gudeokwon, a social welfare organization in Busan, lost his job. Gudeokwon had suddenly announced it was shutting down operations.

Lee and another 100 employees who found themselves out of a job held a sit-in. They argued that the company had faked the shutdown in an attempt to deal a blow to the labor union and to force employees to shoulder the blame for the company’s poor situation (which had actually resulted from embezzlement by current and former presidents). But unable to endure the hardships of the sit-in, most of the Gudeokwon employees went home. About a year into the protest, only three people, including Lee, were still eating and sleeping in the Gudeokwon building.

In July 2013, Lee received an unexpected phone call. He was told that he had been selected to be the first beneficiary of 10,000 Won Solidarity. This was a social solidarity fund launched in the Busan area in April 2013 by twenty people including Kim Jin-suk, member of the steering committee of the Busan chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), with the goal of providing living expenses to dismissed workers.

10,000 Won Solidarity provided Lee with 1 million won (US$923) a month from July to Sep. 2013.

“As the sit-in dragged on, things were getting tough. My family was so happy to receive help from 10,000 Won Solidarity,” Lee said. “The assistance provided by 10,000 Won Solidarity was a major help that can’t be calculated in dollars and cents.”

While civic groups and labor organizations have occasionally raised money to help dismissed workers, it is rare for them to regularly cover living expenses the way 10,000 Won Solidarity has been doing.

After Lee returned to work in Sep. 2013, he no longer needed to the support; instead, he became a sponsor of 10,000 Won Solidarity. Now, he donates 10,000 won (US$9.23) to the organization each month.

“Just as they helped me,” Lee says, “I hope that the little I give helps out other dismissed workers who are carrying on a lonely struggle.”

As of this month, there are about 250 members of 10,000 Won Solidarity, which was launched 10 months ago. While some lawyers and other professionals donate 100,000 won a month, the majority of members give 10,000 won each.

The 15 million won that sponsors had donated to 10,000 Won Solidarity as of last month has been used to cover the living expenses of four dismissed workers including Lee, who has now returned to work. Two dismissed workers who are members of the Yangsan chapter of the Ssangyong Motor labor union have been receiving 1 million won each month in living expenses since Sep. 2013, while one bus driver who was fired after taking the lead in establishing a labor union has been receiving the same support since Dec. 2013.

In order to provide assistance to more dismissed workers, 10,000 Won Solidarity is holding a lecture with the poet Song Gyeong-dong at the small auditorium at the Busan Ilbo offices at 7 pm on Feb. 12. People attending the lecture will have a chance to donate money to support dismissed workers.

In 2011, Song was arrested on charges of proposing and planning the Hope Bus, which was intended to save the life of Kim Jin-suk. Kim had been holding an aerial protest in a crane at the Yeongdo Shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industry in Busan in 2011, demanding that dismissed workers be reinstated.

“In consideration of the needs of other dismissed workers, we have decided to provide living expenses for no more than six months, but for those who are out of a job for a long time, cutting off ongoing support is problematic,” said Cheon Yeon-ok, a member of the working-level operating committee for 10,000 Won Solidarity (and chair of the irregular worker committee for the Busan Office of the KCTU). “I hope that a lot of people decide to become regular donors to help dismissed workers get back on their feet.”

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