Something has happened that should not have. Kim Tae Hwan, head of Chungju branch of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, was hit and killed by a cement truck sent in by a cement company as he was at the company supporting striking workers there. It was a disaster that would be hard to imagine.
Bringing in alternative labor in order to weaken a strike is a dated method hard to find in advanced nations. One can plenty understand why Kim tried to block the hired vehicles from entering the complex. He stood in front of the company and appealed to the outsourced laborers. The written appeal signed by striking workers said, "Please help us! We will win if you do!"
Still, one of the cement trucks ran right over him. Approximately 10 police were at the scene at the time. There are witnesses who say the police only went after the truck when they protested and demanded to know why it was not being pursued. The driver says in his police statement that he was unaware that anyone was in front of him at the time, but that is hard to believe. It was not the middle of the night and it was not a sudden situation. Three cement companies in the Chungju area have been on strike for eight days now. Workers in the region are crying with anger, saying that wage negotiations, the denial of the existence of the union, and the company that came in with separate trucks sent Kim to his death.
It goes without saying that there must be a thorough investigation into the reason why the truck driver did the terrible thing he did and what the police were doing. It is time for the government to take responsibility for protecting the rights of irregular workers, long denied basic labor rights for being "special hiring." There must be no more horrible accidents.
The Hankyoreh, 16 June 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
The Terrible Death of a Labor Leader |
