_?xml_:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />August 29, 2008_?xml_:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Rev. Dr. Xiaoling Zhu
Area Secretary, East Asia and the Pacific
Global Ministries
United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115-1100
USA
Dear Rev. Dr. Xiaoling Zhu
Warm greetings of peace!
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), through the Church and Society Committee, is actively involved in supporting the rights of temporary, or "irregular", workers in Korean society. Today we are appealing to the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and other American church partners on behalf of the temporary workers of Kiryung Electronics Company based in Kuro District of Seoul.
About 250 workers first staged a strike against this company three years ago for the main reason that before their employment contract ended, they were terminated, an unjust practice by both local and international companies of preventing temporary workers from becoming regular workers. Today only thirty-five workers remain on strike, two of them having been on a hunger strike for more than seventy days, in danger of losing their lives for the just cause they are struggling for: a regular job at Kiryung Electronics Company.
Kiryung Electronics Company is the supplier of satellite radios and other electronics gadgets to Sirius Satellite Radio Company based in New York, and its production is dependent on the latter company. Although both companies operate independently and are bound by the laws of the market economy, in the moral sense, Sirius Satellite Radio Company should assume a certain level of responsibility to the workers in Kiryung Electronics Company. This is the point of contention of the striking workers. In a market-driven economy of neo-liberal globalization, the workers are always the victims of exploitation and abuse by profit-hungry companies.
A complaint by the labor union of Kiryung Electronics Company was filed at the Ministry of Labor in Seoul, and Kiryung Electronics Company was found to have violated labor laws and consequently had to pay a penalty, but the workers have not been reinstated. We ask our ecumenical partners in the US to respond to the appeal of the striking workers, who represent the hundreds of thousands of Korean workers who feel like slaves in their status as irregular workers:
l. Conduct a dialogue with the managers of Sirius Satellite Radio Company and appeal to them to urge the management of Kiryung Electronics Company to amend their past actions by re-employing all the striking and terminated irregular workers as regular workers, and to provide just wages, particularly paying overtime work based on existing labor laws.
2. If Kiryung Electronics Company does not amend their past actions on humanitarian grounds, we ask you to urge Sirius Satellite Radio Company to abrogate further business transactions with Kiryung Electronics Company.
We ask you to join us in helping the striking and the terminated irregular Korean workers in their continuing struggle to overcome the evils of neo-liberal globalization. Your support is the best expression of Christian solidarity with those who are alienated from the fruits of their labor.
I attach brief background information for your reference.
In the service of Christ and the suffering people,
Rev. Kim Jong-Maeng
Chair, Church and Society Committee
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea
c.c. Rev. Lydia Veliko, Ecumenical Officer, UCC
Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte, Executive Minister, Wider Church Ministries
Rev. David A. Vargas, President, Division of Overseas Ministries, CCDC