[Hankyoreh, Oct. 20] Ulsan labor protest making a splash

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http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/556719.html

Ulsan labor protest making a splash

Posted on : Oct.20,2012 11:57 KST

Two irregular workers have camped out high atop a pylon, drawing attention to their plight

By Sin Dong-myeong, Ulsan correspondent and Kim So-youn, staff reporterAs demonstrations on top of a steel pylon in Ulsan by in-house subcontractor employees of Hyundai Motor entered their third day on Oct. 19, more groups have stepped forward to stand in solidarity with the strikers and expressed support for their actions.In particular, the union of regular workers and groups of temporary workers at Hyundai Motor along with various workers’ unions from Ulsan area have been actively demonstrating their unity with the strikers, holding candlelight vigils and tent sit-in demonstrations.Support for the steel pylon demonstration heated up on online social networks, which had a crucial role in bringing to the public's attention to the mass dismissal of irregular cleaning staff at Hongik University in Seoul and layoffs of workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in Busan.On the day labor and civic groups including the National Council of Temporary Workers Union, Creating a World without Temporary Workers, and the Korean Temporary Worker Center held press conference in front of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group in Seoul and announced their solidarity by saying, “The struggle and protest by temporary workers of Hyundai Motor who have tied themselves to the electrical pylon is a struggle to bring hope to the nine million temporary workers of Korea.”Since some 41.2 percent of businesses with more than 300 workers hire in-house subcontractor employees as Hyundai Motor does, the struggle will have an influence on the entire labor market. The labor and civil groups are planning to hold rallies at Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan plant (where the pylon protest is taking place) on Oct. 20 and to actively participate in “Besiege Hyundai Motor Day” on Oct. 26. As seen in the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction protest, the groups intend to stage a second “Hope Bus Campaign.” The dire situation of the two Hyundai subcontractors, who secured themselves with rope and trees, to the metal structure, is rapidly spreading on Twitter.Broadcaster Kim Mi-hwa posted a comment on her Twitter (@kimmiwha), “I did three interviews with Choe Byeong-seung who is staging a protest on top of the pylon. Yesterday, I tried to talk on the phone with him as he was tied to the tower in all that wind and I just choked up.”A Twitter user using ID of @ngo** commented, “I had hoped such aerial struggles that put people's lives at risk would never happen again after Kim Jin-suk descended from crane No. 85, 309 days after she started her protest, but two temporary workers from Hyundai Motor are staging protests on a steel tower to call for a change in their status to regular workers as the law requires. Raise the quality of workers’ lives.”Choe Byeong-seung who made the demonstration known via his Twitter (@onepi0820) obtained 200 followers within a day.Feelings of solidarity are taking hold in different regions across the country. The Ulsan headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions along with various civic and social groups in the Ulsan region have been holding candlelight vigils that draw some 200 participants every day and continuing to carry out the protests throughout the night in preparation for forced suppression by security. 

The Regular Workers’ Union of Hyundai Motor also held a tent sit-in. Among presidential candidates, Shim Sang-jeong of the Progressive Justice Party was the first to visit Ulsan on Oct. 19 to meet the two demonstrators and expressed her support for the cause.

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