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"BIG COMPANIES DON'T HIRE US, MARRIED WOMEN": EXPLOITATION AND EMPOWERMENT AMONG WOMEN WORKERS IN SOUTH KOREA
"LET'S WRAP UP THE COMPANY PRESIDENT AND EXPORT HIM"
Workers at Soyo Enterprise in Masan, South Korea, 1 arrived at their factory on the morning of August 24, 1987, to find that they were locked out. A poster hanging on the door announced that the factory was closed indefinitely. The workers had planned to be striking that day, the wave of labor militancy which swept South Korea during the summer of 1987 had brought unions and strikes to many of the foreign-owned factories in the Masan Free-Export Zone (MAFEZ), but the workers had expected to be admitted to the factory and were upset and angry that the company had actually closed it. When my two roommates, both workers at Soyo, and I got to the factory, the hundred-odd workers were gathered outside on the sidewalk and on the street. 2 The situation was tense. Most of the workers' anger was directed at the company, but workers were also divided among themselves about how to deal with the lockout.
Union supporters chanted "Let's wrap up the company president and export him," "Hooray, laborers, Hooray, labor union," and an unstructured, emotionally charged discussion lasted for about three hours. Many workers spoke for or against the strike. Yu Un-sun, the union president, wanted to continue the strike and press for the union's original demands. The most militant workers advocated breaking into the factory to occupy it.
Married women workers gathered at one end of the sidewalk. With families relying on their income, they were the ones most threatened by the closing, and many were desperate to have the factory reopen. Those who spoke argued that the company's offer was an acceptable starting point. They implored the executive committee to listen to them and end the confrontation. They pleaded that they needed work and unlike single women they could not get other jobs easily if the factory shut down permanently. They shouted angrily, "We told you that they would close the factory. What are you going to do about it? We don't have jobs any more. Are you going to get us jobs? We are not single women like you; it won't be...