Join the LabourStart campaign and write to the South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
IndustriALL Global Union condemns the reprehensible body-snatching of Samsung labour martyr YEOM, Ho-seok and imprisonment of trade unionists, including recent high profile arrests of the KMWU Samsung Electronics Service Workers’ Local on 18 and 19 May 2014.
It appears South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Samsung bosses want to take the country back to the bad old days of its authoritarian past. The Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) local representing 1600 workers employed by Samsung Electronics Service is on strike calling for respect for trade union rights and a first collective bargaining agreement.
The KMWU chapter chair tragically committed self-immolation on 17 May in protest against Samsung’s continuing labour repression. 300 police forces stormed his wake, arrested 25 mourners and absconded with the labour martyr’s body.
More info on the Samsung dispute is available at http://kmwu.kr/en/159