Support October 20 South Korean General Strike For Equality & Free KCTU President Yang Ky

Support October 20 South Korean General Strike For Equality & Free KCTU President Yang Kyung-soo
October 20 (Wednesday), 2021 12 Noon PM Korean Consulate
3500 Clay St., San Francisco

On October 20th, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has called for a general strike to:
• Eradicate precarious work & Reform the labor law to guarantee fundamental trade union rights for all!
• For a Just Transition & Moratorium on dismissals/ government responsibility to secure jobs!
• Strengthen public services & social protection!
The government has also imprisoned the president of the KCTU Yang Kyung-soo after he led a march of 8,000 workers in Seoul for health and safety and temporary workers.

An Injury To One Is An Injury To All
Initiated by: S.I. Cobus Italy (http://sicobas.org),
MUN Rossing Branch Dismissed Union Leaders
(https:// ilscnamibia.wordpress.com), Workers International Network (https://www.onthebrink.online),
Workers International (http://workersinternational.info),
United Front Committee For A Labor Party UFCLP
(https://www. facebook.com/masslaborpartyusa),
Higher Education Action Team HEAT
(https://www.ccsfheat.org)
Freedom Socialist Party FSP

Korean KCTU Plans General Strike On 10/20/21 For Equality & Against Repression by Moon Government
https://youtu.be/WURMPNlecJg
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions KCTU with over 1 million members is fighting for contract, temporary and gig workers as well proper health and safety in the midst of the covid pandemic.
They are also planning a general strike on October 20, 2021 for equality with the demand "Inequality OUT! A great transformation into an equal society!"
WorkWeek spoke with Mikyung Ryu, who is the Internatonal Director of the KCTU. There is a growing strike wave in the country and arrests of hundreds of trade unionists including the president of the KCTU Yang Kyung-soo. He was targeted and arrested after leading a march of 8,000 workers in Seoul . The government and police indicted him with violating special covid rules which have been used politically preventing rallies and protests by workers and he has been jailed in preventive detention from supporting further workers action. Workers are also demanding a guarantee freedom of assembly and association and to
• Eradicate precarious work & reform of the labor law to guarantee fundamental trade union rights for all!
• For a Just Transition & Moratorium on dismissals/government responsibility to secure jobs!
• Strengthen public services & social protection
Workers around the world are planning action on October 20, 2021 in solidarity actions at Korean consulates and embassies.
Additional media:
Korean Workers Rallying In Preparation For The October 20 General Strike
https://www.facebook.com/100000809257304/videos/pcb.4498443930192538/1283291062118438
In Korea, Yesterday's strike rally inside Hyundai Steel Dangjin plant.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4452223184814613&set=pcb.4452274564809475
South Korea: trade union leader Yang Kyeung-soo must be released
https://www.icj.org/south-korea-trade-union-leader-yang-kyeung-soo-must-be-released/?fbclid=IwAR3ae_fDHvxNSyC6sOX_Yfxr7Sze0vgwNkQcfjWbrj8VHBvF0avrRpHcSYY
Korean KCTU Report On Arrest of President Yang Kyung-soo And Plans For Oct 20 General Strike-Let's make a general strike struggle" Police forcefully arrest Yang Kyung-soo | KCTU News | 2021.9.3
"총파업투쟁 꼭 성사합시다" 경찰, 양경수 위원장 강제 연행 | 민주노총 뉴스 | 2021.9.3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBock8N8lys
Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.labormedia.net


Solidarity StrikeTober ‘21 Actions In SF

Workers of The World Unite! Stop Temp, Contract, GIG Slave Labor & Union Busting Around The World

Bosses are imposing slave labor conditions and these are what workers face around the world. We support all strikes and struggles in every country and want to bring them together October including Kellog BCTGM strikers, IUOE 39 striking Kaiser engineers, UMWA Warrior Met Coal miners in Alabama, striking UBC Carpenters in Seattle and CWA Mercy Hospital nurses in Buffalo, New York. This month long series of actions will include workers in those countries where similar struggles are going on so we can unite all workers around the world.Take action a) send messages of solidarity b) picket on these dates at all consulates and embassies around the world and also support organizing of workers locally and globally.

Korean Workers Rallying In Preparation For The October 20 General Strike
https://www.facebook.com/100000809257304/videos/pcb.4498443930192538/1283291062118438
Korea KMWU Rally ongoing right now challenges the overarching blanket crackdown on freedom of assembly and association citing "coronavirus" concerns~ The workers are not only wearing hazmat suits and facial coverings to reduce any potential risk of infectious disease transmission but we are also trying to space ourselves apart UNLIKE the POLICE. The police -- while citing coronavirus concerns-- are crowding up and initially it was the police who blocked traffic while their bunching up againnst us made it harder for us to socially distance.
Guarantee freedom of assembly and association!
Today multiple small rallies are taking place throughout Seoul and throughout the country to raise workers demands to :
• Eradicate precarious work & Reform the labor law to guarantee fundamental trade union rights for all!
• For a Just Transition & Moratorium on dismissals/government responsibility to secure jobs!
• Strengthen public services & social protection !
Onward to the general strike (20 October)! Fight deepening inequity!

Korean KCTU President Yang Kyung-soo, in ‘Prison Letter’, “No presidential candidate talks about the survival of workers”

https://tekdeeps.com/yang-kyung-soo-in-prison-letter-no-presidential-candidate-talks-about-the-survival-of-workers/

October 6, 2021

Yang Kyung-soo, chairman of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, was arrested on charges of leading an illegal rally in downtown Seoul. yunhap news
A “prison letter” sent to union members by Yang Kyung-soo, chairman of the National Federation of Trade Unions (KCTU), who was imprisoned in the Seoul Detention Center on charges of leading an illegal assembly in downtown Seoul, was released.
In a letter released on the 6th by the KCTU’s Social Network Service (SNS), Chairman Yang said, “Workers’ jobs are disappearing and their wages are cut, but chaebols and large corporations are leaving unprecedented profits.” “Institutionalized and hereditary inequality is now I’ve reached a point where I can’t stand it.”


“The political power that needs to be rectified is engulfed in the struggle for vested interests, and the lives of workers and people are not even in our minds,” he said.


In front of politicians who do not say how to stop the inheritance of inequality, Chairman Yang said that the KCTU should take the lead and shout, “In a world where vested rights and capital are strictly on the one hand, workers are at the center of our side and we want to fight against them.” .


“Let’s come forward to create a world where workers’ rights are guaranteed and the value of labor is respected,” he said.



Korean COVID-19 healthcare workers struggling with burnout and fatiguehttps://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/07/119_312239.html
COVID-19 healthcare workers struggling with burnout and fatiguehttps://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2021/07/119_312239.htmlPosted : 2021-07-16 08:21Updated : 2021-07-16 11:03
A healthcare worker wearing protective gear uses an air conditioner to cool down at a coronavirus testing center in Gwangju, July 12. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
As Korea grapples with a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the surge in patients and long lines at testing centers are taking a toll on frontline medical workers who are suffering from burnout and exhaustion.
During the past 18 months since the first coronavirus outbreak here in January of last year, healthcare workers have been hailed as heroes for their sacrifices and commitment, but little has been done to address their poor working conditions and heavy workloads.
Medical personnel who have been working extra hours and many nights, risking their own health at COVID-19 treatment facilities, have been further put upon by a lack of manpower and substandard medical equipment, according to the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union (KHMWU).
The union released a survey of its members working at 102 medical institutions nationwide, June 22.
Their responses included: "We are provided with substandard and poorly fitting personal protective equipment;" "Protective gowns can be easily torn or ripped, so we sometimes have to staple them;" and "Once I was completely exhausted after tending to a dialysis patient for over four hours while wearing protective clothing. I couldn't change my shift with anyone, as we are too understaffed."
The union argued that healthcare workers constantly face problems, due to a shortage of staff, as the government continues to increase the number of hospital beds at COVID-19 treatment centers without recruiting more nurses.
Things are not different for employees working at public health centers who are in charge of coronavirus testing and epidemiological investigations as well as the vaccination rollout.
A public petition was uploaded on the Cheong Wa Dae website, June 29, calling on the government to improve working conditions for medical workers at public health centers.
The petitioner, who claimed to be a former nurse at a public health center in Busan, wrote, "Nurses have been suffering from excessive workloads since the COVID-19 outbreak, and things have worsened since the vaccine rollout."
Public health centers have had to deal with numerous complaints from citizens about the lack of vaccines, a chaotic reservation process and reports of side effects, according to the petition.
"The government has repeatedly said that it would actively discuss measures needed to increase public health center nursing staff, to prevent the recurrence of the tragic case in Busan, but no follow-up measures have been announced yet," said the petitioner, urging the government to address the issue appropriately.
Members of the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union call on the government to strengthen the workforce in the public healthcare sector and improve working conditions, during a rally in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare building in Sejong, June 23. Yonhap
A nurse in her 30s at a public health center in Busan was found dead in an apparent suicide, May 23. Her family said she had been suffering from severe stress after being abruptly assigned to manage a local hospital under cohort isolation, even though the work wasn't included in her initial job assignment.
"Medical workers continue to resign due to excessive fatigue and burnout. They can't stand it anymore," said Na Soon-ja, head of the KHMWU. "Many of them are suffering from an extreme level of physical and psychological stress that could lead to depression and trauma."
As things have not improved for over a year, the union held a rally in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare building in Sejong, June 23, demanding improvements in working conditions for healthcare workers, especially for COVID-19 frontline workers, as well as solutions to the chronic understaffing problem.
"Healthcare workers who have been battling the pandemic must be properly compensated," Na said at the rally.
The union asked the government to establish an infectious disease response system, provide additional support and relief to frontline workers, and come up with feasible measures to increase staff in the public healthcare sector. It threatened a walkout in September if the government does not meet their demands by then.

Support The Mineworkers Union Of Namibia Rossing Branch
Fired Union Leaders
October 27 (Wednesday), 2021 4:00 PM
Chinese Consulate
1450 Laguna St, San Francisco


The Mine Workers Union of Namibia Rossing branch
leaders were dismissed last year from the uranium mine
by the state owend company Chinese National Nuclear Corporation. They opposed contracting out of work
and an attack on their health and safety conditions. The
government which is controlled by this and other com-
panies has also shut off the water and electricity of their
lawyer Hewat Beukes. We demand that Chinese presi-
dent Xi-Jinping rehire the miners and stop union bust-
ing in Namibia and end attacks on their lawyer.
MUN Rossing union leaders opposed contracting out of work
and an attack on their health and safety conditions. The
government which is controlled by this and other com-
panies has also shut off the water and electricity of their
lawyer Hewat Beukes. We demand that Chinese presi-
dent Xi-Jinping rehire the miners and stop union bust-
ing in Namibia and end attacks on their lawyer.