4 August, 2009Inside the plant, some 700 autoworkers sit in total darkness cut off from the outside world as the last cell phone battery dies. For the past two weeks, police have blockaded food, water and medical care and attacked workers with taser guns and concentrated tear gas dropped from helicopters.
KOREA: The inhumane treatment and assault on 700 autoworkers holding a sit-in strike at Ssangyong Motor has shocked the world inciting outcry from Amnesty International, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and international unions who are holding protests at Ssangyong dealerships and Korean embassies around the globe.
On August 2, Ssangyong Motor management broke off negotiations and demanded riot police to storm the plant's paint shop where workers have held a sit-in strike since May 21. Workers went on strike after the company ordered mass dismissals without notification to the union, a violation of the workers' collective agreement.
According to the Korean Metal Workers' Union, the union representing the strikers and an affiliate of the International Metalworkers' Federation, in the last 24 hours riot police have beefed up their force from 3000 to 4000 and cut off all electricity, leaving the workers in total darkness and alienated from the outside world without the ability to use cell phones or cameras.
Family and colleagues, some 600 of them gathered for a candlelight vigil tonight outside the plant, fear for the workers' lives. For the past two weeks police have blockaded all water, food and medical care to the strikers and arrested family, union members and doctors who have tried to deliver supplies. Police have fired electric shock tasers at workers and helicopters have been continually bombing the area of the plant where the strikers are located with highly concentrated tear gas, causing open wounds and burns on the skin respectively. Workers are unable to wash off the agent due to lack of water and are unable to treat their burns or injuries.
On July 23, at the prompting of the IMF and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) the ILO submitted an urgent intervention calling on the Korean government to abstain from using force against peaceful demonstrators. Amnesty International, a leading advocate for human rights, issued a press release denouncing the use of tasers and tear gas adding, ""in no circumstances is it permissible for management or law enforcement officials to attempt to bring an end to a strike by denying the strikers access to essential needs such as food, water or urgent medical treatment."
IMF affiliates from around the world have taken action in support of the workers on strike. On June 27, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions held a protest in front of the Korean embassy. Future actions are planned for Brazil, Switzerland, South Africa and the USA. All IMF affiliates are asked to take similar immediate action at Korean embassies and consulates, "it's a matter of life and death," says KMWU international director Hyewon Chong.
TAKE ACTION: Tell the Korean government to call off riot police from attacking workers holding a sit in strike at Ssangyong Motors.