Last Friday (22nd), Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Geoje City, Gyeongnam.
When the labor and management strike of the subcontractor was concluded, a subcontractor worker, Choi An Yoo, who had been on strike for 31 days in an iron cage of 1 meter in width, length and height, was carried on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance.
Yoo’s colleagues clapped and shouted ‘I love you’.
At first, Yoo tried to stand in front of reporters. But I couldn’t. For over a month, I was crouching in a narrow cage where I couldn’t even lie down or even straighten my body, so my body was not in good shape.
[김형수/조선하청지회장 (7월 22일)]
“It’s hard to walk, my body doesn’t listen properly. If I’m stuck in ‘we’, I also worry about things like claustrophobia…”
He was immediately transferred to a nearby general hospital and hospitalized.
Sunday after the third day of hospitalization.
When the reporters heard that Choi Ahn Yoo had recovered to some extent, they met him at the hospital.
Yoo came out in a wheelchair, and for a while it was difficult to walk on his own.
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
(How is your physical health now?)
“I thought there wouldn’t be any major problems when I was inside, but actually… After sleeping one night, I got sick here and there, so I’m preparing for rehabilitation.”
(Where are you feeling a little off?)
“My back and knees lose a lot of muscle, so my back and knees don’t feel good.”
He has a constitution that burns a lot of heat, but he also joked with bones that he was not hot because he lost a lot of flesh and muscle in the iron cage.
This week, he will receive a detailed examination at a hospital in Seoul, and he plans to focus on rehabilitation for a while.
On June 22, the 21st day of the strike, Yoo, a subcontractor worker for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, was trapped in an iron cage.
I went into a small steel structure that I couldn’t even spread out, and even welded it to block the iron cage. And I lived in that small space for 31 days.
On one wall of the office shared by subcontractors, there was a kind of ‘rolling paper’ written by co-workers.
As a journalist, I am also confident in my ‘perseverance’, but I don’t think I will be able to make that decision. As to what kind of desperation was the reason for imprisoning herself, I first asked Mr. Yoo this question.
If I translate Mr. Yu’s answer as it is.
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
“The reason I entered the cage was because Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering continued to use physical violence to suppress the strike, so I went into the cage to protect our union members. They are taken to the hospital, and those who are taken to the hospital have to receive treatment for several weeks, and each time they collide, the ‘no-no conflict’ grows, and that conflict produces another misunderstanding. I became isolated because I wanted to be a part of it. I chose a way to protect our members and prevent further conflicts.”
In the iron cage, Mr. Yoo had a conversation with several people visiting the strike site, and it was vividly conveyed through the media. There was no tremor on his face each time. He asked if he had anything to worry about in the cage.
Yoo also cited the government’s ‘investment of public power’.
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
“There was pressure to put public power in. To be honest, it’s frightening to see the police force coming and going, helicopters flying from above, and just preparing to suppress it outside.”
In fact, if the police force is sent in, it is said that there is a high possibility that the imprisoned himself, the six subcontractors at high altitude, and other union members will be injured. He said he was especially thinking about his family.
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
“But in the process of suppressing it, certain accidents can happen. I have no choice but to resist. I was worried about the company and worried about our members. Then I kept worrying and honestly, I couldn’t make a different decision. I just kept worrying and I’m sorry.
Aside from these concerns, he said he had a gut feeling that the prospects for negotiations were gloomy.
■ ‘I didn’t think it would fall further…’
When asked why the subcontractor workers of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) started the strike, Yoo Choi-an answers:
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
“I’ve been living on 2 million won a month since 2016. It’s unfair to receive the minimum wage for the rest of my life, but I thought that getting the minimum wage would be the end. I thought it wouldn’t drop any more. , work is getting harder, people are getting hurt, and all these problems keep getting worse.”
I thought that there would be no more floor if I worked while earning minimum wage, but it was an inevitable choice as the situation continued to get worse.
On the 24th, the third day of hospitalization, Yoo Choi-an’s interview was broadcast on MBC.
‘0.3 Pyeong Siege’ Yoo Choi-an “Tell people who earn 2 million won to give 800 billion won”
https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2022/nwdesk/article/6391590_35744.html
There were quite a few unexpected comments.
“Let’s take a look at the pay stub and talk. Various allowances, overtime expenses… The monthly real income is over 5 million won, you guys.”
“You’re talking about making 2 million won a month? I’m sure whoever hears it is real.”
“No one has posted a single paycheck that has been received.”
These are the contents that we cannot trust the claims of subcontractors that they earn around 2 million won even if they work all month, and that they only get the minimum wage even if they learn skills for the rest of their life.
So, we secured the salary slips of the 63-year-old worker with the oldest age among subcontractors, one year before retirement.
January salary statement. I went to work for 27 days and worked 291 hours including overtime and overtime. The total salary is 266 million won.
0 won is written on items such as education expenses, allowances, and incentives. After deducting taxes and the four major insurance premiums, the only money in hand is 2.33 million won.
9,160 won, because they only receive the minimum hourly wage.
I was skeptical that the allowance was included in another month, so I received all my pay stubs this year.
[2월 / 근로시간 256시간, 실지급액 204만원]
[3월 / 근로시간 374시간, 실지급액 295만원]
[4월 / 근로시간 292시간, 실지급액 234만원]
The way subcontractors’ salaries are calculated is simple. The minimum hourly wage is 9,160 won multiplied by the number of hours worked, and taxes and four major insurance premiums are deducted.
There was no such thing as an allowance.
Even in May, when I worked 381 hours, the actual amount paid was 3.11 million won on the pay stub.
‘Ah, isn’t it only this year?’ Or, ‘Aren’t you going to give me an allowance at the end of the year?’
Do any of you have any doubts about this? So I even received this worker’s ‘withholding tax receipt’. I was issued a 7-year supply because I thought it would be impossible to see it for just one year.
The details of the ‘total salary’ of the withholding tax receipt, commonly referred to as the annual salary before tax, are as follows.
[2015년 3,863만원 / 2016년 3,699만원 / 2017년 3,397만원 / 2018년 3,227만원 / 2019년 3,368만원 / 2020년 3,379만원 / 2021년 3,393만원]
As of 2021, using the ‘Naver Wage Calculator’ to calculate the ‘expected real income’, it comes to 30.08 million won. On a monthly basis, that’s about $250,000.
Looking at the total salary graph, you can see that the salary has steadily decreased around 2016, when the shipbuilding industry began to cut wages, but it still has not recovered.
Now, I think this will have resolved the question of ‘Is it really worth 2 million won?’
But what is more disconcerting is that the worker receiving this wage is a person with 23 years of painting experience and 19 years of experience working exclusively at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
■ Why do you work there for that money?
“It’s a riot because I’m a small business person, and if I go there and work overtime, I earn twice as much.”
“I heard that the Coupang distribution center also gives more than 300, so if you don’t like it, you can leave. I don’t understand.”
It is possible that such a question arises as well.
Regarding this, Choi Ann Yoo said:
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청 노동자]
“People who can get out are out. But what should we do about those who can’t? So should we just pretend we don’t know these people? People who have worked in the shipyard for 20 or 30 years. The average age of subcontractors is quite high. . In reality, the majority are between the ages of 55 and 60. These are people who can’t go to work anymore, but they are constantly pecking at them.”
Of course, young workers in their 30s and 40s can leave in search of better jobs. But for skilled workers who have been working in an area for over 20 years, it may be virtually impossible to ‘get out’.
The same was true of the 63-year-old worker whom the reporters met in person. He said that he had been doing the same job for decades in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, but he couldn’t even dare to find another job now, so he had no choice but to keep doing it.
So, he said, there are many elderly workers who retire from ‘in-house subcontractors’ and then return to work by working with other subcontractors that Daewoo is passionate about.
Young people leave, leaving only those who can’t leave and users who take advantage of that reality, creating a vicious cycle.
■ “Please return the reduced salary”
Let’s look again at the graph of the total pre-tax wages of subcontractors born in 63.
Since 2015, the total salary has continued to decline and is still not recovering. Considering the sharp rise in the inflation rate during this period, this worker’s life would have been tougher.
The workers started this strike to return 30% of their wages, which had been cut in the past.
However, the settlement was reached with a 4.5% wage increase initially proposed by the management.
And the government still drives workers away by emphasizing ‘laws and principles’, and the management is demanding 800 billion won in damages from the workers.
[유최안/대우조선해양 하청노동자]
“I think the government is really too much. By creating this structure (primary-subcontracting), they are very tolerant of those who suck blood, and strictly respond to those who are victimized. What is the principle? Are we not citizens? Don’t we have the right to live like human beings?”