29.07.2011

South Korean woman celebrates 200 days living in crane

A South Korean woman is celebrating spending her 200th day living at the top of a crane in protest against lay-offs at a major shipping company. Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction announced last year it was cutting 400 jobs from its shipyard in the southern city of Busan. This prompted local trade union member Kim Jin-suk to begin her protest.
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Kim Jin-suk celebrating spending her 200th day living at the top of a crane in protest against lay-offs at a major shipping company.

She chose a crane where another trade unionist committed suicide several years ago during a separate labour row. Thirty-five metres above a windy shipyard, with a bucket for a toilet, the middle-aged Kim is staging a lonely protest against one of South Korea’s most renowned companies.
“I came up here in the winter, it’s summer now and very hot,” she said, speaking on a solar-powered mobile phone. I’m living in a metal cage and because it’s so hot, it’s like a sauna. There’s no electricity, it’s a very confined space, I can’t read books, and I can’t wash. But I’m here on behalf of the workers who are being laid off.”


Last month, leaders of the local metal-workers union reached an agreement with the company to end the strike in return for more compensation for those that have been laid-off, and no legal action. More than half the affected workers agreed, but more than 100 are continuing the protest, saying they want jobs, not compensation. Kim says she will not come down until the workers are reinstated.