|
{preheader}
|
KILSH’s Newsletter in June 2025
Letter from the Editor
On June 2, the day before South Korea’s presidential election, a subcontracted worker died while working at the Taean Thermal Power Plant. His name was Kim Chung-hyun, a man in his 50s. This marks another fatal accident at the same site where Kim Yong-gyun, a worker, died in December 2018.
The Taean Thermal Power Plant had outsourced its power plant maintenance work to KEPCO KPS. Hanjeon(KEPCO) KPS, in turn, subcontracted the work it had received from the power plant to small-scale subcontracting companies. Greedy company owners rushed to grab the profits thrown their way by the public institution. Subcontracting companies with 4 or 10 employees sprang up everywhere. Workers were divided and exploited as subcontracted, non-regular employees of subcontracting companies.
The Taean Thermal Power Plant, the prime contractor, ordered that no additional staff be hired after the plant was closed. As the profits handed down by the prime contractor decreased, the safety of subcontracted non-regular workers was the first to be threatened, and the risks trickled down further.
The workers’ demands—“We don’t want to die while working,” “Increase safety personnel,” “Ensure two-person teams,” and “Develop a plan for the plant’s closure”—went unheard, and the workplace remained unchanged. Korean society continues to prioritize costs over worker safety and lives, with workers continuing to be sacrificed.
We hope that you will continue to be interested in our activities. Please pass it on to others.
If you have any questions, please reply to this email.
Thank you.
|
|
| |
In-depth review
Betrayal of Public Square Democracy: Precarious and Irregular Working Hours (May 2025)
|
|
| |
|
What characterized the candlelight rallies that ended with the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol in 2025 was the connection between ‘individual’ citizens and ‘collective subjects’ such as workers and farmers. However, this was not the only feature of the rallies. Workers and farmers, intersecting genders and sexual identities, and minorities who were marginalized due to class, education, region, disability, age, ethnicity, and race, and those who could be called “the grassroots people” filled the public square.[1] However, while workers and various citizens awakened each other and connected more strongly in the public square, Jeong-hye Park and Hyun-sook So, workers at Korea Optical Hitech who had been continuing a high-altitude sit-in before the impeachment, still could not come down to the public square, and eventually, workers at Sejong Hotel, a long-term struggle site, and workers at Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding) in-house subcontractors also chose to hold high-altitude sit-ins amid the impeachment situation.
|
| |
| |
KILSH’s studies
Working Conditions and Health Status of Fixed Night Shift Workers at Logistics Centers (2024)
|
|
| |
|
Many workers at logistics centers work the night shift. Due to higher wages on the night shift, workers prefer night work to day work. However, the high intensity of work at logistics centers, coupled with poor working conditions such as exposure to extreme temperatures, compromises workers’ health. The number of workers engaged in non-rotating night shifts for 20 days or more per month is increasing. This study aims to examine the health effects of night shift work. Additionally, the study evaluated the regulations governing night shift work in South Korea and several other countries to identify necessary legal provisions in South Korea. Through surveys and interviews, the study examined the employment history, health status, and willingness to switch to daytime work of logistics center workers engaged in fixed night shifts. The study aimed to identify the social structural context that leads workers to continue night work despite its adverse health effects, explore measures to minimize health damage, and ultimately propose solutions to improve the structural factors that threaten worker health.
|
| |
|
