By Michael Stevens
An ugly labor dispute is gripping Ssangyong Motors in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as unionists are vowing to ``fight to the end'' by shooting nuts and bolts from large slingshots and hurling Molotov cocktails at riot police officers. However, with every nut and bolt shot and with every Molotov cocktail hurled, both the Korean people and the world are losing sympathy for their cause and their refusal to compromise.
Yet, their plight should not be ignored. While I do not agree with their methods, I can understand their feelings of desperation as Korea continues to suffer from the global economic recession.
The Korea Development Institute reported that the number of households living in absolute poverty has hit a record high of 17.6 percent; which means that one in every six Korean families is making well below the minimum cost of living.
Nevertheless, these violent demonstrators are not the only problematic Koreans being witnessed by the foreign community living in Korea and elsewhere. Sadly, we also see it in the stigma that many of these hard-working poor must face because of the mindsets of many people in this country. As one Korean netizen, that goes by the name of ``twoturtles,'' so blithely put it, ``blue collar (jobs) are for losers. Only through unions can these monkeys make decent money."
How could a country be so obsessed with success and the need for education that it forgets that there is also a need for a working class? Why is it that the owners and stockholders of these Korean industries, not just Ssangyong Motors, are so obsessed with their own personal success and wealth that they must be forced to pay the people that help them achieve it a wage that lets them support their families?
Yet for many in this country the Korean dream of a home and financial security is lost as more manufacturing jobs leave for the cheaper foreign labor cost in China, Vietnam and Thailand ― often paying these foreign workers a monthly salary of around $300 and in addition not having to worry about environmental and employee safety issues.
Furthermore, as more Korean engineering and technology industries look elsewhere to set up manufacturing divisions and with the steady deterioration of the Korean job market ― there is not enough diversity in the South Korean labor industry and regrettably with this fact come the realization that there is no where for those people who are displaced to go.
Companies in this country have no reason to protect Korean workers, since they basically only worry about themselves and about their short term profits. This is actually the problem with the profit maximization model that capitalism promotes ― people sacrifice morals for money. The result is that the working class loses all hope.
Therefore, before we make the assumptions that all these unionists are criminals and need to pay heavily for their actions, we must take in account the feeling of hopelessness that they are facing with the loss of their jobs.
Although I believe in the ``rule of law'' and that these demonstrators need to face the consequences of their actions, Korea needs to find a way to protect its workers so that they no longer feel the need to go to such extreme measures to be heard by management and the government.
Korea can no longer afford to look down with contempt upon the working class ― the true backbone of this country's economy ― given the fact that executives and other white collar workers only make up a little over 21 percent of the nation's population.
The writer is a student of Biblical studies. He can be reached at eslcity@gmail.com.