[Photo] The story told by the hands of a master shoemaker

These are the hands of someone who’s been crafting shoes for 40 years. Part of his left middle finger was sliced off by machinery, and his other fingers have been calloused, bruised, cut and toughened by various stages of the manufacturing process. Shoemakers under the Korean brand Tandy are currently engaged in a sit-down demonstration on the third floor of the company’s headquarters in Seoul to demand proper employment contracts. In 2000, Tandy began converting its full-time shoemakers as “contract employees” to cut down on labor costs and to avoid paying for pension, healthcare, industrial accident insurance and other benefits provided to full-time regular employees. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)

These are the hands of someone who’s been crafting shoes for 40 years. Part of his left middle finger was sliced off by machinery, and his other fingers have been calloused, bruised, cut and toughened by various stages of the manufacturing process. Shoemakers under the Korean brand Tandy are currently engaged in a sit-down demonstration on the third floor of the company’s headquarters in Seoul to demand proper employment contracts. In 2000, Tandy began converting its full-time shoemakers as “contract employees” to cut down on labor costs and to avoid paying for pension, healthcare, industrial accident insurance and other benefits provided to full-time regular employees. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)