ID :
194780
Wed, 07/13/2011 - 12:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/194780
The shortlink copeid
Samsung Everland workers apply to start labor union
(LEAD)SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- Workers at Samsung Everland Inc., the amusement park arm of South Korea's largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, applied Wednesday to establish the first Samsung trade union in more than three decades.
Four workers, including Park Won-woo, 39, submitted an application to form a trade union with the country's labor ministry. After three days of review, the ministry will formally recognize the first worker-led Samsung trade union, they said.
The move culminated three years of secretive yet persistent struggles to earn workers' rights under the watchful eyes of the Samsung management that has allegedly cracked down on several attempts to unionize workers.
"It's been three years since we began working to set up a trade union at Samsung," said Cho Jang-hee, 39, one of the four workers trying to unionize. "It's been tough. We still have fears and worries."
Fears that their three-year effort may be foiled loomed until the very last minute when they applied to the ministry. Cho and Park asked press not to disclose their identity until they arrive at the ministry in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, fearing they might lose their jobs.
"I do worry about the process after reporting to the ministry," said Park, who was elected as the head of the forthcoming union.
Samsung, which has 78 affiliates with roughly 270,000 workers in the country, has nine trade unions, mostly at its financial units.
Those unions, however, were organized by Samsung management with few active members, said Kim Seong-hwan, leader of Samsung's General Labor Union, an outsider union. Many of them were aimed at keeping workers from establishing a second labor union under the country's one-workplace, one-union law.
But since a new labor law allowing workers to form multiple trade unions in a single workplace took effect on July 1, workers' rights advocates have been keen to see whether workers at Samsung, which has a strictly managed no labor union policy, would unionize.
"Speaking about a labor union is taboo at Samsung," Kim said. "It is equivalent to a crime."
If established, the new union will mark virtually the first trade union at Samsung since unionized female workers at Cheiljedang were dispersed by the company's management in 1977, according to Kim. Cheiljedang later separated from Samsung.
The union hopes to represent voices of workers from all Samsung affiliates as well as contractors and suppliers of Samsung, Cho said.
"There are one or two individuals at affiliates who want to join a labor union, but they cannot do it alone."
Four workers, including Park Won-woo, 39, submitted an application to form a trade union with the country's labor ministry. After three days of review, the ministry will formally recognize the first worker-led Samsung trade union, they said.
The move culminated three years of secretive yet persistent struggles to earn workers' rights under the watchful eyes of the Samsung management that has allegedly cracked down on several attempts to unionize workers.
"It's been three years since we began working to set up a trade union at Samsung," said Cho Jang-hee, 39, one of the four workers trying to unionize. "It's been tough. We still have fears and worries."
Fears that their three-year effort may be foiled loomed until the very last minute when they applied to the ministry. Cho and Park asked press not to disclose their identity until they arrive at the ministry in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, fearing they might lose their jobs.
"I do worry about the process after reporting to the ministry," said Park, who was elected as the head of the forthcoming union.
Samsung, which has 78 affiliates with roughly 270,000 workers in the country, has nine trade unions, mostly at its financial units.
Those unions, however, were organized by Samsung management with few active members, said Kim Seong-hwan, leader of Samsung's General Labor Union, an outsider union. Many of them were aimed at keeping workers from establishing a second labor union under the country's one-workplace, one-union law.
But since a new labor law allowing workers to form multiple trade unions in a single workplace took effect on July 1, workers' rights advocates have been keen to see whether workers at Samsung, which has a strictly managed no labor union policy, would unionize.
"Speaking about a labor union is taboo at Samsung," Kim said. "It is equivalent to a crime."
If established, the new union will mark virtually the first trade union at Samsung since unionized female workers at Cheiljedang were dispersed by the company's management in 1977, according to Kim. Cheiljedang later separated from Samsung.
The union hopes to represent voices of workers from all Samsung affiliates as well as contractors and suppliers of Samsung, Cho said.
"There are one or two individuals at affiliates who want to join a labor union, but they cannot do it alone."
