By Lee Hyo-sik
More than seven out of every 10 unionized workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction were found to oppose the months-long sit-in protest by a labor activist atop a 35-meter giant crane at its shipyard in Busan.
In a survey of 714 unionists at the Yeongdo shipyard where Kim Jin-sook, a former Hanjin Heavy worker and member of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, has been protesting layoffs since January, 73.1 percent, or 522 workers, disapproved of Kim’s occupation of the crane, the company said Sunday.
It also said 95.6 percent of 547 non-union members at the shipyard, or 523, called on Kim to stop the sit-in and help the plant resume operations.
Of all the 1,440 union and non-union members taking part in the survey, 83.8 percent or 1,117, said the labor activist should halt the protest at the tower crane.
The survey result came a day after members of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, opposition political parties and progressive civic groups gathered at Seoul Plaza Saturday night, demanding Hanjin Heavy reverse its decision to lay off hundreds of unionized employees.
Police estimated the crowd at 5,000. Family members of dismissed workers also participated in the rally.
The protesters urged the government to make more effort to resolve the stalemate at Hanjin. They also demanded the government do more to help lower university tuition and reduce the number of non-regular workers.
Police deployed 90 companies of riot police, amounting to 6,000, to the scene but were unable to contain the crowd. At around 9 p.m. some protesters occupied nearby roads, causing severe traffic congestion downtown.
Earlier in the day, conservative civic groups held a rally at the Seoul Plaza to criticize North Korea’s poor human rights record.
A possible clash between the two sides did not materialize as members of liberal civic groups moved into the plaza after their conservative counterparts left.
They dispersed voluntarily Sunday morning.