Building solidarity against GM
South Korean auto worker tours U.S.
By Sharon
Black
Baltimore
A representative of fighting auto workers in South Korea has
been touring the United States. In every city Kwang-Jun Yu is
met with solidarity and enthusiasm by workers and community
activists.
Yu is director of policy for the Daewoo Motor Workers Union
and has been meeting with unionists and activists to let them
know about the fight to stop a General Motors takeover of
Daewoo Motors. The U.S. auto giant is forcing Daewoo to close
plants and lay off thousands of workers before it steps in.
Yu was cheered in Columbia, S.C., on June 9 at a rally of
thousands of workers who had gathered to support the case of
the Charleston 5. He condemned racism and police brutality,
comparing the police attacks on longshore workers in that
Southern city to ones that the Daewoo workers have suffered and
stressing the need for international solidarity. Ken Riley,
president of the union local in Charleston under attack, posed
for pictures with Kwang-Jun Yu.
In New York City, Yu spoke at a packed International Action
Center meeting. Student interns with the group learned of the
role of the International Monetary Fund and giant U.S.
corporations like GM in carrying out union-busting in southern
Korea. During his New York stay, Yu met with UNITE and AFSCME
union organizers.
Boston school bus drivers from Steel Workers Local 8751
greeted Kwang-Jun Yu at a morning meeting at their work site.
He then joined an organizing picket line of the Painters and
Allied Trades District 35 at the Harbor Towers Hotel on
Boston's waterfront. The president of the Greater Boston Labor
Council, Tony Ramano, committed to drafting a resolution in
support of the Daewoo workers.
In Baltimore, television crews from the local Fox network
covered Yu's press conference in front of the GM manufacturing
plant. As in many other cities, he was greeted with enthusiasm
and support at local strike sites.
First, he attended and spoke at a rally of the striking
Up-to-Date laundry workers, who are organizing with the UNITE
union. Two hours later, Yu was at a picket line of SEIU Justice
for Janitors.
That evening the All Peoples Congress hosted a
standing-room-only solidarity rally. Community activists and
trade unionists stayed for over four hours in brutal heat to
hear the speakers. They watched a recent video of a police
attack against the Daewoo workers, their eyes filled with
horror and tears. Many in the audience had experienced police
brutality and killings in Baltimore and could identify with the
Daewoo workers.
The meeting was co-chaired by Sylvia Seymour, the vice
president of AFSCME Local 112. Her local had provided
transportation for All Peoples Congress members and Kwang-Jun
Yu to the Charleston 5 rally. She presented Yu with a special
picture plaque to demonstrate the group's solidarity.
Fred Mason, statewide director of organizing for the
AFL-CIO, made an impassioned speech for solidarity, condemning
GM and global capital. He received a standing ovation as he
shook hands with Kwang-Jun Yu. The tour is continuing on the
West Coast in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Jeff Bigelow, tour coordinator and volunteer labor
coordinator for the Baltimore All Peoples Congress and
International Action Center, says, "This tour is already a
resounding success. It has helped to educate workers, community
activists and students on the important issues facing the labor
movement in southern Korea. It has drawn the links between
workers' and community struggles here. And it has taught us
about the role of the IMF and the banks. It has also connected
the issues of police brutality and the use of Pentagon troops
to enforce the rule of the big banks.
"The next step is to seek concrete ways to lend support to
the Daewoo workers."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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