Hard Labour - South Korea

March 1997
In the shadow of South Korea's economic decline, the government has passed laws undermining workers' job security.

Inside Myongdong Cathedral, workers pray for guidance. In skirmishes with riot police, students and workers pelt the lines with balls of rubbish. As they run hurling abuse, the police spray clouds of tear gas in their faces. In tents set up outside the Cathedral, militant trade union leaders plan their protest campaign. Sitting cross-legged, the President of the outlawed Confederation of Trade Unions questions the lack of democracy in the present labour system. A former student leader from 1987 protests mourns the death of his friend. He says, "Compared with the sacrifices of our youth, the results we have now are too few." As the government backs big business and gleaming skyscrapers, President Kim Young-Sam refuses to acknowledge that he has been heavy handed. His spokesman maintains. "I do not think it was a mistake or unjust". Workers admit that South Korea has economic problems, but complain that the burden of change is not evenly shared. This report includes a profile of a union representative from a Hyundai factory.

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• South
• Korea
• factory
• work
• Labour
• Myongdong
• exploitation
• Journeyman
• Pictures
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[Underwater7]

I really dislike when they leave huge portions of videos untranslated.

[fiddeekberg]

Says the guy who graduated from Cambridge. How about working a couple of years in a factory and then come with an opinion? I have been in several unions some of them have sucked ass and just leached money from us while others really helped us to improve our salaries, working conditions and providing us with other "luxuries" like free coffee. When working at a factory you got nothing to bargain with since everyone can stand and work at an assembly line that's why a union can come in handy some..

[DtorBill]

2400 hours/year, that's horrible... S.Korea exploites people to get things and it convinces people through rubbish against other countries (we will be the best fighting hardly) <-- What a rubbish attitude, treating people as rats, exploiting people not respecting even human rights.

[reallysecretusername]

These are just a bunch of kids who want to have some excitement and destroy some property and maybe throw a couple of rocks at a police officer.

[faha00d]

wow wow

[He101A]

Labor unions are just a bunch of communist agitators.