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Special Edition
_?xml_:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />December 13, 2007
Dear Readers: In addition to the regular edition of December 2007 PROK E-News sent out last week, we now send you this supplementary issue to bring to your attention the dire situation of irregular workers employed by E.Land, and of migrant workers from other countries. We ask you to pray for these sisters and brothers and for those who work with them in seeking justice, and to take action as specified below. With thanks, Rev. Yoon Kil-Soo, Editor
1. E.Land irregular workers on their 16th day of sit-in protest at NCCK
As of December 13, 2007 the leaders and members of E.Land Workers’ Union are on their 17th day of live-in protest at the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). This is part of the, to date, more than six-month struggle of about one thousand irregular workers whose employment was terminated by the E.Land management at the end of June 2007. According to the testimonies given by some of the striking workers, the E.Land management decided to terminate their services prior to the implementation of the new labor law, the ‘Irregular Labor Protection Law’, on July 1, 2007. The new labor law states that irregular workers will automatically be granted regular status if they have worked for a company for more than two years.
The E.Land Group of companies - New Core Outlet, Homever and 201-Outlet - headed by E.Land president Mr. Park Seong-Soo, own shopping malls across South Korea, including 30 Homever and 10 New Core Outlet malls. At the end of June of this year 300 irregular workers were dismissed by Homever, and 500 by New Core Outlet. Most dismissed workers were women, working as supermarket and department store cashiers and sales assistants under very insecure employment conditions. After the mass dismissal, the E.Land Group substituted them with employees outsourced from temporary employment agencies.
On July 1, 2007 the labor union of the E.Land Group began a sit-in protest against the mass dismissal of irregular workers, holding their protests at the New Core Outlet department store complex in central Seoul for 14 days, and at the Homever shopping mall in the World Cup Stadium in Seoul for 21 days until July 20. The police responded with brute force, including even water canons, to disperse their ranks.
Three leaders of the E.Land trade union, the president KIM Kyung-Wook, vice-president Mr. LEE Nam-Sin and general secretary Mrs. LEE Kyung-Ok, were arrested on July 20 on charges of organizing an illegal strike, when riot police stormed picketing protestors; they were detained for two weeks. Other E.Land unionists are under threat of arrest, and huge individual compensation claims have been filed by the employers for business interference and losses incurred by the sit-in strikes.
The Ministry of Labor is not investigating the case of the E.Land irregular workers, passing on the responsibility to the “government”; when asked to which particular branch of government the Ministry of Labor is referring, the striking workers responded that they do not know. A planned congressional inquiry about the case was not pursued because E.Land president Mr. Park Seong-Soo, the main subject of the inquiry, is not in the country, having been in the United States since the termination of the irregular workers. The government agencies that should be responsible for settling this labor-management dispute have failed to act appropriately to protect the rights of the irregular workers. There has been no intervention whatsoever from the office of President Roh Moo-Hyun.
The E.Land irregular workers union members are continuing their sit-in protest at the NCCK office. They are demanding that they be reinstated in their jobs as regular workers and receive the benefits due them from the company. The protesting workers, through the intervention of the NCCK, are appealing to churches here and abroad to urge that E-Land president Mr. Park Seong-Soo return to Korea to settle this problem and end this labor-management deadlock that has lasted now for 170 days. As an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK-Hapdong), Mr. Park Seong-Soo must be urged to show Christian concern and take responsibility for the plight of the striking irregular workers in his company. Leaders of the NCCK are urging that immediate and continuing guidance and support be given to the E.Land striking irregular workers as they seek and hope for justice.
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E.Land workers protesting at NCCK office
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) appeals to our partner churches and members to send your petition letters to the E-Land Group, urging president Park Seong-Soo to resolve the issue of the striking irregular workers. Petition letters may be addressed to the Korean headquarters or head offices in Europe and the USA:
The E-Land Group, 19-8 Changjeon-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea Fax: (+82-2) 323-5582
Euro E-Land Ltd., Baron Ave. Earls Barton, Northampshire, NN60JE, England, UK
E-Land USA Ltd., 131 West 33rd Street, Suite #406, New York, NY 10001, USA
Please send copies to the PROK (prok3000@chol.com) which we will in turn share with the NCCK and striking workers.
2. Migrants' trade union leaders arrested; members hold sit-in protest at NCCK
A group of migrant workers belonging to the Migrants’ Trade Union are holding a live-in protest at the office of the NCCK. They are demanding respect for the human rights of migrant workers, and until today were particularly demanding the unconditional release of their three labor leaders, MTU president Kajiman, vice-president Raju and general secretary Masum, who were arrested last month on November 27, charged with being undocumented. We have now learned with deep regret that these three MTU leaders were deported today to their home countries. The sit-in protest of the MTU members which began on December 5th is a manifestation of the repression of labor and violation of the human rights of migrant workers. South Korea employs more than 800,000 migrant workers from China, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and many other countries.
The MTU was legally recognized by the Korean government after a long and arduous struggle by the migrant workers over the years. The MTU is an affiliate member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). In spite of the legal status of the MTU, the leaders and many members are classified as undocumented. From the perspective of the migrant workers, however, their visa status is secondary to their labor and human rights. The simultaneous arrest, and now deportation, of the three MTU leaders is clearly a targeted attack, planned in timing with an intensification of the crackdown against undocumented migrants in Korea. Since the beginning of August of this year, the government has carried out a massive crackdown in an attempt to reduce the number of undocumented migrants in the country. During this time more than 20 MTU officers and members have been arrested.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and affiliated Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants' Trade Union are appealing to various labor organizations, churches and concerned individuals to do whatever they can to support their struggle for the unconditional release of their arrested union leaders and end the barbaric crackdown underway in Korea. Please pray unceasingly for the immediate release of detained workers and for just laws governing the lives of migrant workers.
PROK E-News is a publication of The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK).
Editor: Rev. Yoon Kil-Soo, General Secretary
