The labor movement is responding angrily to the arrest of the head of the irregular workers union at Hyundai Motors. Police in Ulsan say An Gi Ho is charged with "obstructing business" for organizing a strike that started on January 18 and thereby causing major problems for automobile production.
The process by which the police arrested him without prior warrant, however, appears to be of questionable legality. According to the union, An left the sight of the sit-in and headed to the dining area with three union members to have lunch when he was "kidnapped" by three guards who had been waiting with a vehicle, which drove out beyond the front gate of the complex, and it was there he was handed over to police. In other words, it was a joint exercise by company management and the police. Earlier, the management had reported 84 union irregular workers to the police, including the head of the union. It is denying the "kidnapping" and says An was arrested after leaving the facility of his own volition. Common sense tells you, however, it would be hard to see a union's leader walk right out the Hyundai Motors complex on his own. Furthermore there are numerous eyewitness reports. Family members report that company guards beat him, including on his face, as he was given to police. If the union's claims are accurate, what the police need to be doing is clearing up the truth about who was perpetrating what kind of violence in the course of An's arrest.
Even more serious a problem is that the current government's policy on irregular labor now goes so far as to suppress the movement using primitive methods. The union's second in command and the general secretary are already both in prison. Arresting the head of the union in addition to that can only be interpreted as an attempt to uproot irregular workers' union altogether. Anyone who looks at how the management got involved in the arrest and how the government is pretending it doesn't know anything while engaging in a hard-line response to the strike will tell you that it is not just. We call on the authorities to clear up the truth about the process through which An was arrested and stop this oppression towards irregular labor.
The Hankyoreh, 15 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Oppression Against Irregular Labor Movement |
