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9 February, 2000Support the KCTU-KMWF postcard campaign by ordering and sending your postcards to the South Korean authorities.
KOREA, REP: The Korean Metal Workers' Federation is stepping up its campaign in support of the Sammi Specialty Workers' Struggle.
The dispute goes back several years, when the government-invested Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) bought Sammi Specialty Steel. POSCO is anti-union and managed to dismiss the most active union members working at Sammi and got rid of the union.
Ever since, the Sammi workers have been fighting for reinstatement. They have the record for the longest sit-in strike of an enterprise union in Korea: 1,099 days as of December 29, 1999.
In the meantime, the Regional Labour Court, the Central Labour Court, the National Audit Board, the Second Tripartite Commission and the Seoul High Court all ruled that the dismissal from their jobs of 185 active members of the Sammi Specialty Steel Workers' Union (SSSWU) was unfair and demanded they be reinstated. POSCO has not complied and keeps appealing.
Realising the employer has no intention to recognise the workers' right to their jobs and their freedom of association, the IMF-affiliated KMWF and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have now set up a special committee called the Committee to Reinstate Sammi Workers.
To give widespread coverage to this campaign, the unions have printed 5,000 protest postcards for distribution to unions worldwide, to be mailed in turn to the Korean authorities.
ORDER YOUR POSTCARDS NOW (minimum 100 cards) from:
Kim Joo-hee, KMWF International Affairs Department, on Tel: (0082/2) 712-4252; Fax: (0082/2) 712-4253; e-mail: [email protected]
Read more on Sammi workers in Metal World No. 2/2000.
The dispute goes back several years, when the government-invested Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) bought Sammi Specialty Steel. POSCO is anti-union and managed to dismiss the most active union members working at Sammi and got rid of the union.
Ever since, the Sammi workers have been fighting for reinstatement. They have the record for the longest sit-in strike of an enterprise union in Korea: 1,099 days as of December 29, 1999.
In the meantime, the Regional Labour Court, the Central Labour Court, the National Audit Board, the Second Tripartite Commission and the Seoul High Court all ruled that the dismissal from their jobs of 185 active members of the Sammi Specialty Steel Workers' Union (SSSWU) was unfair and demanded they be reinstated. POSCO has not complied and keeps appealing.
Realising the employer has no intention to recognise the workers' right to their jobs and their freedom of association, the IMF-affiliated KMWF and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have now set up a special committee called the Committee to Reinstate Sammi Workers.
To give widespread coverage to this campaign, the unions have printed 5,000 protest postcards for distribution to unions worldwide, to be mailed in turn to the Korean authorities.
ORDER YOUR POSTCARDS NOW (minimum 100 cards) from:
Kim Joo-hee, KMWF International Affairs Department, on Tel: (0082/2) 712-4252; Fax: (0082/2) 712-4253; e-mail: [email protected]
Read more on Sammi workers in Metal World No. 2/2000.