The Above video shows people demonstrating against HongIk University in Korea. People claim that the University's decision of massive dismissal should be rescinded. Furthermore, the cleaners require the university to cease maltreatment on them.
The reality (of course, in my perspective) is that the university is DOING SOMETHING that IT SHOULD NOT DO. In Korea, the legally minimum wage per an hour is 4110 won. Cleaners in the university are earning such MINIMUM amount of wage compared to their hard workloads. In addition, the university paid only 300 won per a day as workers' meal charge. The university, claiming its property right over waste papers, even took those papers away from the workers who tried to sell those and earn some little moeny to pay meal charge (which is not enough for 300 won per a meal). Not enough for such maltreatment, the university now tried to fire all of its cleaners!The trickery the university uses is simple. It never hires cleaning workers directly, but hires indirectly through the Service Company. Then, because the university (which is not in the direct employee-employer relationship between workers) does not really need to fulfill the legal requirements for the laborers' basic rights, it can easily fire people and pay them as little as possible. Under an excuse of changing Service Company, the university fires everyone and finds people who are more desperate so that would work under more severe condition.
Still, similar strikes and demonstrations are going on several university campuses for similar reasons. It would be due to the university officials not being able to understand that the cleaners are hard-working job. If they empathize with the workers, such happenings should not occur - because they would realize how hard cleaning is. Therefore, I suggest thirty days of being a cleaner! THe more they understand, the better a situation resolved.
The experience will not be only for the officials. It will be also for the students as well. After the strikes all over the universities including HongIk University, the campuses are becoming dumping grounds. Even though studetns are willing to help those strikers by joining the demonstration and negotiating with the univeristy as the workers' representatives, they are not actually doing anything voluntarily to keep campus clean. Apart from the cleaners matter, I believe that the students have to modify their mindset of not even lift a finger - though they are not cleaners, they have to do at least not throwing trashes away in the offices so that hard works of cleaners are lessened little. So, the experiences of thirty days as cleaners would also help students to recognize how hard the cleaning works are and how their little voluntary behaviors can lessen those works. At the last point, I think we KMLA students are not even little different from those irresponsible college students. When we look over the auditorium or conference rooms, one can easily find out left-over cans or trashes. The case of trash cottage in front of the dormitory is even worse. On Tuesday and Friday (male students have to be prepared for cleaning violation check during the daytime by dormitory parents on those days), the trash cottage is full of unseparated trashes all around. Someday, even trashes overwhelm the cottage! Then, it is soley our cleaners' work to separate all those trashes. We also have to be responsible. We have to responsible at least for the cans we have and separating those trashes. I hope all of our students have a experience of being cleaner.
Here, surprisingly, our counselor Ms. Park notified the chance for this experience. We students can experience one-day-streetcleaners during the Saturday. I'm planning to join it. KMLA students, the RESPONSIBLE future leaders! Why don't we join this together and be little more responsible on our trivial matters first?
Debate motion
THBT legal minimum wage in Korea should be raised
THS current Korean government policy encouraging flexibility of labour market
THB Separation of trashes should be mandatory for students in KMLA.
Excellent post and choice of topic. I like how you include possible motions at the end, and you made me think more than a bit about how big organizations distance themselves from workers. Is this what we might call outsourcing? There is a 30 Day episode about that. Hongik definitely seems to be doing just that - thereby lessening their responsibility and accountability towards employees. Ironically, this is a university doing so - a supposed hub of young bright minds guided by the wise to create a more just world for all. Or, is it about money? Are these workers being punished for NOT attending university? Professors are difficult to replace, but anybody can pick up a broom, right? Wrong. A dedicated cleaner probably affects the well being of a university more than 10 dinosaur professors who sometimes prepare lectures. Yet the cost of keeping one of those tenured dinosaurs on staff could probably pay a yearly salary ABOVE minimum wage for 10 cleaners. A dirty school speaks volumes, and hopefully Hongik wakes up. Good to see the support the cleaners are getting. Every job should be treated as a valuable one and if people are respected they will respect back.
답글삭제Excellent post as always.
Yes... Hongik is doing outsourcing to lessen their responsibility. When the massive dismissal of the workers were issued, its official response was "We just wanted to change outsourcing company! We are not doing anything to the workers!"
답글삭제Plus, it is not only for Hongik. They were just starting points. What all the other universities have done are now being revealed and most cleaning workers in those universities are in strike!
I don't get why universities are maltreating those workers. They actually have to be responsible as institutions raising social intellectuals! But what they are only caring about at this point is MONEY.
They only deserve money. Even though they do not put any efforts to improve school facilities or educational environments, they are raising tuition (which will be used for constructing memorable buildings) They simply want to grab more money. They are not functioning as educational institution!!!
답글삭제It's such a well written essay!
답글삭제I agree that the University is doing wrong things. Has 2MB's government taken any actions on it?
-Dongha-