By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
About 150 unionized workers of E-Land held a rally in front of SaRang Community Church in southern Seoul Saturday, asking the pastors to let the company's chairman resume negotiations and withdraw dismissal of leaders of the union.
SaRang Church is where the group's Chairman Park Sung-soo is an elder.
The unionists have been on strike since July 8 to protest the company's dismissal of non-permanent employees.
Recently, the group sacked an additional 33 leaders of the union and ordered the suspension of another nine workers. The dismissal was delivered via text messages on mobile phones last Tuesday through Thursday, a day before the scheduled negotiations between the management and the union.
The workers rushed to the church and asked the senior reverend to recommend Park to resume the talks and withdraw the dismissal, but were rejected. Their request to rally inside the religious facility was also turned down.
The union plans to continue the protest till their requests are accepted.
Meanwhile, the court ruled a not-guilty verdict to a E-land unionist who called the management ``leeches'' over their shifting permanent workers to non-permanent ones. It said, ``The wording was inappropriate, but it is not an insult, nor punishable.''