NO TO NEO-LIBERALISM! NO TO PRIVATISATIONS!

Source : Policy & Information Center for International Solidarity

The Korean public sector workers have now been on strike for 3 days. Although the railway workers and gas workers have called off their strikes due to agreements with the government, the electricity workers are relentlessly continuing their strike.

The government has so far refrained from using police force to break up the strikes, but has instead, resorted to propaganda to divide and demoralise the workers while turning the citizens away from the truths of why the workers are on strike -the truths about the working conditions and the truths on the intentions behind privatisations of public services. President Kim Dae-Jung has defined the strikes to be illegal and has vowed to deal with a firm hand. Arrest warrants are out for almost 100 workers and union leaders, adding to the more than 600 workers who have been imprisoned after Kim came into office.

The government has made itself clear that it has no intentions to withdraw its privatisation plans. Thus the continuation of the strikes of the electricity workers is vital at this point. We ask you to give your support to the electricity workers who are bearing through all the attempts to break up their struggle against privatisation and the sell off of generation plants to foreign capital.

The electricity workers are our last hope. Please send your support and solidarity messages to them so that they will be encouraged to not break under the tactics of the government and the management.

Also send letters of protest to the Korean government, urging them to withdraw privatisation plans.

If you reply to  picis@jinbo.net (cc.  kpsu@jinbo.net, patcha@patcha.jinbo.net, base21@base21.org), your letters and messages will be translated and delivered to the workers.

Addresses for protest letters are as below:

* Mr. Kim Dae-Jung
The President of Republic of Korea
1, Sejong-no, Jongno-ku, Seoul, Republic of Korea
110-820
E-mail:  president@cwd.go.kr,  webmaster@cwd.go.kr
Fax: +82-2-770-0347
Fax: +82-2-770-0001
Tel: +82-2-770-0018

* Ministry of Labor
1, Chungang-dong, Gwacheon goverment office complex,
Gwacheon city, Seoul, Republic of Korea 427-760
E-mail:  webmaster@www.molab.go.kr,
 m_molab@molab.go.kr
Fax: +82-2-504-6708
Tel: +82-2-503-9700

* Ministry of Construction & Transportation
1, Chungang-dong, Gwacheon goverment office complex,
Gwacheon city, Seoul,
Republic of Korea 427-712
Fax: +82-2-2110-9001~3
Tel: +82-2-2110-8001

* Mr. Lee Man-Sup
Speaker of the National Assembly
1, Yoido-dong, Youngdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Republic of
Korea, 150-701
E-mail:  leems@assembly.go.kr
Tel: +82-2-784-0911~3

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SOME MORE LINKS:

www.base21.org

www.labourstart.org/korea

www.kctu.org

www.nodong.org (in Korean but has messages of solidarity from around the world)

english.joins.com/Article.asp?aid=20020304005305&sid=300