(The following article is from the May 1-15,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

By Sean Burton

     Organized Korean workers do not beat around the bush when it comes to their working conditions and rights, and there have been numerous successes in their fight against South Korea's reactionary ruling circles in the past sixty years. Though present-day South Korea is hardly a beacon of social progress, conditions are considerably better than twenty or thirty years ago.

     Mass resistance to the detested military dictatorships flared up on a number occasions. One of the most notable events was the Gwangju Democratization Movement of May 1980. Following the assassination of General Park Chung Hee the previous year, South Korea's long suppressed democratic movement began to mobilize again.

     The new military government instituted martial law, and on May 15, 1980, over 100,000 people protested in Seoul. In response, the government expanded martial law and shut down universities and banned political activities. Troops were also sent around the country, including to university campuses. Fighting broke out in the southern city of Gwangju on May 18, and numerous civilians were killed. Instead of being cowed into submission, many people banded together and raided armouries and police stations to obtain weapons and form militias. The South Korean army eventually attacked the city in force and defeated the militias on the 27th, resulting in over two thousand casualties. The legitimacy of the regime was severely undermined, and the Gwangju Massacre became a rallying cry during the 1980s to end military rule.

     There have also been many attempts to improve labour conditions. It is hardly surprising that labour rights during the military dictatorship were quite limited. Labour activists put themselves at great risk, since complaining could be labelled as "unpatriotic", and perhaps "pro-communist". After Park Chung Hee's coup in 1961, there was only the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), and this was under the control of the government.

     The self immolation of Jeon Tae-il in 1970 was a notable catalyst for organizing independent labour unions in South Korea. Jeon, a tailor, had been particularly appalled by conditions at the Seoul Peace Market. These included many cases of tuberculosis due to poor ventilation, and forced injections of amphetamines to keep workers awake. Jeon's protests were dismissed by the government, and the exasperated 22-year old set himself on fire in downtown Seoul to demand enforcement of the labour code.

     Though various labour organizations sprang up afterwards, the FKTU remained the only legal federation of unions until 1999. Military rule ended by the early 1990s, but there were still many struggles afterwards. There was another self-immolation in the late 1990s as the government of Kim Yong Sam attempted to introduce a widely disliked labour policy. There was a strike led by the then-illegal Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and clashes with the police.

     Where do things stand now? Few will forget the massive beef-import protests of 2008, and the nation's unions, particularly the KCTU, are in regular conflict with the staunchly conservative Lee Myung Bak government. And now Samsung, one of the south's most powerful corporations, is facing criticism for the working conditions in its plants. Late in March, a worker at one of Samsung's semiconductor factories died from leukemia. She began working there in 2004. According to the Hankyoreh newspaper, her job involved using "tweezers to place the semiconductors in a hot lead solution and other chemicals, remove them and use an x-ray machine to inspect them". She first fell ill in 2007 and briefly recovered after a bone-marrow transplant. A human rights group at the plant has stated that about twenty workers at two semiconductor plants have been diagnosed with blood-related cancers, of who eight have died. Samsung has also denied any responsibility.

     However, a former maintenance engineer recently came forward and stated that the company is lying about working conditions; that accidents were commonplace and dangerous materials were being improperly handled. In some cases, warning alarms were ignored and deactivated and managers kept silent. There have since been demonstrations demanding action from the company. Samsung did open up one of its plants for media coverage. However, the company only allowed access to two of the newer production lines, and for just thirty minutes. It is unclear what will develop from this and subsequent investigations, but the working people of South Korea still have a long battle ahead of them.