The United Church of Christ in the Philippines Solidarity Statement to Hanjin's Retrenched Workers in Korea and the Subic Bay, the Philippines

United Church of Christ in the Philippines
 
A Solidarity Message
to the
Retrenched Workers of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction
and the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea
 
“Genuine peace comes when justice is served...
...for as long as labourers do not receive just wages...
There will be no peace.”
UCCP Statement on Peacemaking
 
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines(UCCP) joins the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea(PROK) in supporting the workers of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction(HHIC) in their struggle for their workers’ rights as a result of illegal termination and unjust labor practices.  We salute the Korean people for their willingness to join in a peaceful protest that included more than 10,000 citizens on 195 buses to call for a resolution of the HHIC laid-off workers situation, on July 9, 2011.  Hearing that in the early hours of July 10, 2011, armed police fired tear gas and water cannons at civilian protestors, as they sought to visit Labor Leader Kim Jin-Sook who was protesting by occupying Yeongdo Shipyard Crane #85, reinforces the need for Church people around the world to join in solidarity with the struggle of the workers.  With the PROK, we strongly condemn the violent dispersal of the peaceful march to protest the termination of workers at HHIC on July 10, 2011 in Busan City, South Korea and call for the reinstatement of illegally retrenched HHIC workers. 

Globalization has allowed large Trans-National Corporations, such as the Chaebol conglomerate corporations where HHIC belongs, to move easily from country to country around the world, even when in the process they violate workers’ rights and welfare.  The lay-off of workers in Busan, South Korea likely precipitates from the opening of Hanjin’s new shipyard in the Subic Bay Freeport, Philippines. In 2005, Hanjin signed a 50-year lease and has since then invested US$721 million into this new shipyard.  With a ten-year tax holiday and a cheaper workforce of only PhP 306 (approx US$7.25) for nine hours labor in the Philipines, the HHIC likely intends increased profits by relocating their work to Subic Bay, Philippines. 

According to our investigation, the situation of Hanjin workers in Subic Bay Freeport is also fraught with violations of workers’ rights:
·         Although Subic government officials report that 21,000 workers and employed at Hanjin, the reality is that only approximately 17,000 are employed by Hanjin, while the others retained using 42 sub-contractors to circumvent the giving the benefits and rights of regular employees, including the right to join a union.
·         Not only do workers have a nine hour shift, they are also required to arrive to the company bus station 30 minutes before their shift begins.  Workers are often expected to work a double shift and have been known to work for as many as three days non-stop.
·         There are reports of wide-spread drug use for workers to cope with back-to-back shifts.
·         Since Subic Bay Freeport Hanjin opened, 30 cases of work-related deaths and more than 5000 accidents have been recorded.  Workers have been crushed by metal, impaled by slabs as well as cut, maimed and bruised to alarming degrees.  Families of death victims have been unable to collect death benefits.

The UCCP denounces the low wages, injury/death and violation of basic rights experienced by Filipino workers at the Subic Bay Freeport Hanjin shipyard AND the termination and violation of basic rights of Korean workers at HHIC Busan City, South Korea, most likely precipitating from the relocation of work to the Philippines. 

In response to the liberalization of trade and labor as is dictated by global capitalism, workers of different countries and those who stand in solidarity with them must increase their cooperation to expose and resist the violation of worker’s rights.  The efforts of Trans-National “Mega” Corporations to concentrate global power and wealth to themselves through the subjugation of the world workforce can be thwarted by a similarly global approach by broad social movements, including the Church, to struggle for fundamental changes that bring about a just, participatory and sustainable social order.

We commit ourselves to uphold the welfare of the world’s workers as a response to the call of faith, hope and mutual mission.  Our concern and support for the retrenched workers at the HHIC Yeongdo Shipyard of Busan is a solidarity expression not only of our partnership with the PROK, but also of our concern for workers everywhere.  We stand with those calling for the management of Hanjin Heavy Industries to be investigated, for the police committing violent dispersal against peaceful protestors to be held accountable, for the reinstatement of illegally retrenched workers, and for the respect of workers’ just wages and human rights.

 
 Signed By:

 
 
 
Bishop  Elorde M. Sambat                   Bishop Arturo R. Asi
North Luzon Jurisdictional Area            South Luzon Jurisdictional Area                


 
 
Bishop Jaime M. Morilles                    Bishop Dulce Pia-Rose                
Middle Luzon Jurisdictional Area            East Visayas Jurisdictional Area
 
 

 
 
Bishop Melzar D. Labuntog                    Bishop Modesto D. Villasanta
Northwest Mindanao Jurisdictional Area       Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area
 
 

 
 
Bishop Reuel Norman O. Marigza
General Secretary
 

Hopes are high for workers at Pusan's Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction

Our Position on the Violence and Abuse of Public Power by Police
and the Normalization of Relationships within Hanjin Heavy Industries
July 11, 2011
 
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) has been praying and making every effort for God’s will to be done on earth. On the 10th of July, the Korean police illegally and brutally put down a peaceful march by citizens demanding a resolution to the situation of workers whom Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) had laid off. With grave concerns, the PROK hereby states where we stand.
 
1. We strongly condemn the police illegal and violent suppression of this peaceful march!
 
From the death of two union leaders, Park Chang-Soo in 1991 and Kim Joo-Ik in 2003, to the present rightful struggles of workers against their illegal layoff, we are aware of how harsh the oppression of the workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries has been. On the 9th of July, which is the 185th day of this year’s struggle by the workers, over ten thousand citizens rode 195 Buses for Hope to the second large rally in front of Busan Station and held a Solidarity and Hope Concert calling for the resolution of the situation of the laid-off workers and particularly the safety of labour leader Kim Jin-Sook. Later the citizens marched peacefully to meet with Kim who has been protesting by occupying the 35-metre high shipyard crane #85. Armed police blocked this peace march and during this confrontation, at around 2 o’clock in the morning of the 10th, police fired liquid tear gas and water cannons toward the citizens, then, using their riot shields, rushed the marchers, took innocent citizens into custody, and finally scattered the crowd.
 
Among those who participated in this peaceful march were disabled people, minors, and the elderly. Nevertheless, the police violently charged the crowd, using water cannons and liquid tear gas fluid, even brutally targeting people’s faces directly. It was revealed that nearly 100 people have either been burned or injured this day by the police water cannons and liquid tear gas.
 
We have to ask for whom the police exist and what they serve. We cannot help but lament this reality in which the police, who should be protecting citizens and guarding democratic order, instead become private soldiers of Chaebol conglomerate corporations and commit violence on citizens even more severely than hired bullies would. The police should publicly apologize concerning this incident to the people of our nation and those who are responsible for this incident should be strictly punished.
 
2. Hanjin Heavy has to reinstate laid-off workers and open all information on their order-receiving process!
 
For workers, layoff in fact means death. Hence, plausible grounds and criteria must always be provided in the case of layoffs. However, Hanjin’s layoff this time clearly violated the employment agreements by setting forth no future restructuring plan. (2007.3.14, 2010.2.26) Furthermore, Hanjin Heavy Industries is under suspicion for having been concealing received orders. For the past three years, the company has justified its layoff through an alleged lack of orders. They laid off 170 workers this past February, and then distributed 17.4 billion Korean won to their shareholders as a dividend. In addition, right after the union called off their strike the company announced an order receipt of six orders for vessels.
 
According to an insider from the Metal Unions, it is necessary to have 3000-4000 workers to be able to properly produce received orders but currently at Yeongdo Shipyard there are only 620 regular workers and 700-800 subcontracted workers. It is inconceivable that Hanjin had to perform a layoff when the company was actually in absolute need of more workers.
 
This circumstance compels us to conclude that the management intends to gradually reduce production at Yeongdo Shipyard of Busan region and eventually establish Subic Shipyard in the Philippines, where labor is cheaper, as its central production line. This leads us to reason that there may be a second and third restructuring. While Subic Shipyard may bring a larger profit to some of those in Management, due to this kind of restructuring the workers in the Busan region will lose jobs and livelihood. In the long run this move will cause a significant loss in the economy of the Busan region and of the entire country as well.
 
To alleviate this suspicion, Hanjin will have to release all the information related to the process of receiving orders. And also, Hanjin will have to withdraw its violent layoff policy and reinstate all the workers who have sweated blood for the company.
We, the PROK, declare our appeals as follows. We will also march in prayer with all the people of the country to put an end both to the violence of the police, whose action destroys democratic order, and to the misdeeds of the Chaebol corporations of Korea.
 
Our Appeals
 
1. We appeal to President Lee Myung bak. The violence by the police took place with the knowledge of the president and this obviously deserves a public apology.
2. Cho Hyun-Oh, Chief of the National Police Agency, and Seo Chun-Ho, Chief of the Busan Police Agency, overused their public power, violently repressing a peaceful protest, and therefore must be discharged.
3. Hanjin Heavy Industries must release all the suspect order receipt information and reinstate all laid-off workers.
4. The government must investigate Hanjin Heavy Industries on its poor management and suspicious order receipt process and punish those who are responsible for the debacle.
5. The government must proactively arbitrate in local economy and employment problems.  
6. The government must make a strong regulation regarding layoffs caused by poor management.
7. All civil detainees who participated in the peace march must be released.  
 
REV. BAE TAE-JIN
General Secretary
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK)
 
REV. CHUN BYEONG-SAENG
Chairperson, Church and Society Committee
PROK