Social justice 16/10/18 Prayer power put to work for South Korean shipbuilders - Thousands of workers in the country's shipbuilding industry have been laid off

[성기화 요셉]

Prayer power put to work for South Korean shipbuilders

Thousands of workers in the country's shipbuilding industry have been laid off

October 31, 2016

Buddhists, Catholics and Protestants in South Korea held a joint prayer meeting for shipbuilders who have been fired or are under threat of unemployment due to industry restructuring.

On Oct. 18, the Labor Pastoral Commission of the Seoul Archdiocese, the Committee for Society and Labor of Buddhist Jogye Order and the Human Rights Center of the National Council of Churches in Korea jointly held a prayer rally in Seoul to save the jobs of subcontracted shipbuilders.

"The greedy economic system blocks the common good and does not serve people. I pray for a fair restructuring of the industry that considers the most vulnerable people first," said Father Ignatius Jung Soo-yong, president of the Seoul Archdiocesan labor pastoral commission.

"I want people to pray for the economy of morality not the economy of efficiency," he added.

Participants at the rally criticized the government and shipbuilding companies for firing people without considering their financial and social safety.

Song Tae-wan, a subcontracted shipbuilder, said at the rally, "If the religious people in Korea pray for us and support us, less contracted workers will be kicked out on the street."

The stagnant shipbuilding industry in South Korea has fired 15,000 workers in 2015 and 50,000 more workers in the industry are expected to lose their jobs in the near future.

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