A “rice dumpling soup” party was held in front of the headquarters of Ssangyong Motor Co., on Dongsang-no in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, on February 16. 60 some Christians and 20 some fired workers received bowls of the hot dumpling soup from a yellow food van, parked near the tent where the workers, members of the Ssangyong Motor Branch of the Metal Workers’ Union, are holding their sit-in. Sitting close together in the narrow space inside the 15m-long, 5m-wide tent, with heavy rain falling outside, they looked like one big family, sharing soup and laughing together.
In this place, the National Council of Churches (NCCK)’s Justice and Peace Committee held a “Prayer Meeting for Reinstatement of Fired Ssangyong Motor Workers and Abolishment of Mass Layoff of Irregular Workers” (photo), and served dumpling soup to encourage these fired workers, who will meet the Lunar New Year atop the Ssangyong plant's chimney.
Kim Jeong-uk, secretary general of the Ssangyong Motor Branch Union, and one of those sitting atop the chimney, waved his hand in glad welcome to the NCCK visitors. Greeting them also by phone, he said, “I’m really thankful to NCCK for being with us during the six years since we were fired, coming to visit us before the holidays, and even preparing rice dumpling soup for our workers.”
Article and photo by reporter Jin Samyeol (samuel@kmib.co.kr) from Pyeongtaek, with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Click here for the original article in Korean
NCCK Comforts Fired Ssangyong “Chimney Protest” Workers with Rice Dumpling Soup
2015-02-23 16:56
