The Welder Who Helped Bring Democracy to South Korea
South Korean labor activist Kim Jin-suk inspired her country back in 2011 by occupying the top of a 115-foot shipyard crane to protest worker layoffs and defend workersâ rights. Now, as she fights against breast cancer, sheâs demanding her job back.
Labour activist Kim Jin-suk during her nearly year-long sit-in atop Crane 85 at Busan s Hanjin shipyard on July 31, 2011. Photo: Reuters/Lee Jae-Won
World20/Dec/2020
A welder from South Korea is calling for her reinstatement to the shipyard where she was fired for union activity thirty-five years ago. This campaign will likely be the last one waged by Kim Jin-suk against her deadly, anti-union employer, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd.Kim first made international headlines in 2011 after she sat atop a 115-foot shipyard crane for 309 days demanding that Hanjin reverse its massive layoffs. Her occupation was successful, with the company rehiring ne