Layed-off Samsung S1 Secom security workers held the first-ever demonstration in front of Samsung Corporate Headquarters, a space previously known as a "demonstration wasteland." After a mass layoff last August, the layed-off workers formed "Samsung S1 Labor Solidarity" and began their struggle for reinstatement to their positions and at 3:00pm on January 19th, held a demonstration demanding their reinstatement at the headquarters on Taepyeong-no, in Jung-gu, downtown Seoul.

About 200 people were in attendance, including members from the Struggle Committee for Reintatement of Samsung Workers and other groups associated with Samsung as well as other supporters.

Interest is High in the First Ever Demonstration in front of Samsung Headquarters in History

Samsung has normally been able to fend off demonstrations by dispatching workers to file for the demonstration permits at the nearby Namdaemun Police Stations. This time, however, the layed-off workers implemented their "demo permit strategy," scuffling with the Samsung security forces in front of the Police Station, until finally the organization was allowed the right to hold the first-ever protest in front of Samsung corporate headquarters.

Previously, the Namdaemun Police Station had either denied permits to both sides, or used constantly changing standards to decide who would get the permit, allowing it alternatively to "the first group to sit on the sofa in the public lounge," "the first group to arrive at the second pillar after midnight," or "the first to step foot in the revolving door." As the workers had previously been unable to even once receive the permit, the police were criticized for giving preferential treatment to Samsung.

According to a press conference held by a joint committee of citizen activists supporting the S1 workers, on this morning as well, they had received indications that Samsung and the police were trying to deny the workers their permit to demonstrate in front of the headquarters.

The space where the demonstration took place was tightly surrounded on three sides by buses from the riot police, and roughly 100 Samsung security and police were stationed in front of the main entrance, blocking the approach of demonstrators. As workers shouted slogans and sang songs of struggle for the first time ever in front of these headquarters, and some 200 people, including other laborers in support of the action, as well as numerous media representatives, gathering to witness this even, the high amount of interest was evident. Passersby on Taepyoung-no also stopped to take a good look at what was taking place.

Mking the Spirit of the Struggle Clear - "We Will Be Back For Sure"

In fact, a majority of the laid-off workers were not even able to attend the demonstration, as those involved in the early morning action were rounded up and hauled off to the Police station and put under investigation. Nevertheless, after all these trials and tribulations, in the speeches and chants offered in front of the headquarters, the strident spirit of the laid-off workers was made quite clear.

This spirit was evident in the head shaving of Samsung S1 Workers Solidarity head Kim Ogeun, who had his head shaved before his speech. Said Kim, "The reality that our nation's police are so firmly under the feet of Samsung is most lamentable. To bring this fact to light to our fellow citizens, and to show Samsung the depth of our determination, I've shaved my head today." He continued, saying, "As seen in the Ministry of Legislations ruling against the National Police Agency's interpretation of the law, we are certainly going to get our reinstatement."

Kwon Mijeong, chief of the KCTU Gyeongi Province Regional Branch, noted "The very workers whose task it was to say to our customers, 'We'll protect your families' are now cast out and unable to take care of their own families." Kwon denounced the fact that, "While we are simply standing up for our humanity, the actions of the police this morning, hauling away these workers, only makes it more clear that Samsung and the police are a obviously in cahoots with one another."

Bak Jin, an activist at the Dasan Human Rights Center, encourage the S1 workers, saying "Maybe Lee Geon-hee and his sons will never know what it means to be hungry or to shiver on the freezing streets, but the main actors of history, the main actors of humanity, are those like us, gathered here on the streets today."

One child of one of the laid-off workers, 3rd grader Miss Cho Eunbin attracted attention as well, reading aloud a letter she sent to her father, and also a letter written by Kim Seonghwan, head of the Struggle Committee for the Reinstatement of Samsung Workers was read. He started a fast in Yeongdeungpo Jail on Jan. 17th upon hearing the news of the Samsung workers' struggle. Lee Sangjin, a hometown friend of Kim Ogeun, and a representative of Kolon Struggle Committee for the Reinstatement also lent his encouragement to the workers.

At 5:40 pm, participants finished with the demonstration marched to the front of the Samsung S1 main office near Namdaemun, where they brought their day's struggles to an end. The group also plans for another protest rally in front of Samsung headquarters on February 2.

The Number of those Fighting with the "Great Power" Samsung Grows

The workers and students who were thrilled by staging the first protest in front of Samsung headquarters have raised their voices together in denunciation of the conglomerate.

Song Sugeun, a worker from the Busan Samsung SDI factory, laid off during the 1998 anti-restructuring struggle, said, "though the activists in the Struggle Committee for the Reinstatement of Samsung Group Workers went through a long fast in 2003, Samsung once again snatches away the worker's right to make a living. Through this demonstration in front of their headquarters, we've overcome their countless legal maneuvers which for the past year have denied us this right, and the S1 workers accomplishment here today is truly thrilling."

Song continued, "I've fought with Samsung and been arrested twice and spending more than two years in jail, and they've tried many times to tempt me, but the workers who have had their jobs swiped from them at Samsung and the S1 workers in particular are leading the way, and the fight must go on."

Yun Byeongmok, who was laid off from Samsung Insurance in 1998, exposed another case. "When Samsung tried to recover their losses in their Automotive sector through cuts in the Insurance branch, female workers, those on maternity leave, and long-term employees all faced coercion through a program called the "Hope Retirement" and were forced out. Though they struggled for some five years in the courts, they came to realize that in their relatively weak position, no matter how just or lawful their claim, they would never be able to win."

Yun continued to many applause, saying, "Coincidentally, the number of those laid off in '98 was 1700, and the number of S1 workers laid off is also 1700. This historical repetition of unjust layoffs is wrong. We will work to the bitter end, giving all of our spirit to the cause, to continually bring this problem to the fore."

No Gyeongjin, laid off from the Samsung/Koreno plant responsible for the supply of all Samsung LCD monitors, also took the platform, arguing that, "at this corporation that pulls in about 40 billion won a month and some 400 billion won a year, they are engaged in such wicked practices as checking up on the number of times the young women head to the bathroom! They lay off workers who seek to form a union and try to make examples of them. To this we must resist, we must fight it to the end."

In 2005, after giving a 40 billion won donation to Korea University, the University sought to give Chairman Lee Geon-hee an honorary doctorate. Seo Beomjin, who was "excommunicated" from school in charge of leading the protest against it, also spoke, criticizing the company and its chief, "Is money simply everything to Samsung? The fitting title for Lee Geun-hee would be 'Doctor of Workers Oppression,' 'Doctor of Corruption.'"

Seo went on to say, "They lay off 1700 workers, purchase degrees with their cash, and get embroiled in the 'X-file' scandal, and now they collude with the police... all of this is very 'Lee Geun-hee-ish!'"