[Photo essay] Laid-off janitorial workers call for justice

Laid-off janitorial workers pose for a photo for the Hankyoreh. (Lee Jeong-a/The Hankyoreh)

Janitorial workers stand before the majestic skyscrapers of Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood. Their workplace is at the LG Twin Towers (on the far left side of the image, closest to the Han River).

After forming a labor union last year, they were notified that a new service provider had been selected and all 80 of them were to be let go. Negotiations with the provider have been taking place ever since, but they have not been going smoothly.

The workers have requested a meeting with LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, proposing final discussions so that they can ask about the group’s position on the continued employment of service workers when providers are changed, as well as about any plans for improving conditions for cleaning workers employed within the group.

But so far, the company has offered no response.

In the hopes of getting an answer, they have been joining forces with other sympathetic workers and members of the public to set up a “tent village for happy employment continuation” in the area around the LG Twin Towers’ East Tower.

“The most gratifying thing is when I look out over the clean offices after my colleagues and I have arrived on the first morning bus and spent our workday diligently cleaning everything up.”

Their plight is worth taking time out of our busy days to listen to. We can hear the voices of people shaking off their fear and showing the world that they exist — crying out that they do not intend to remain “invisible” any longer.

By Lee Jeong-a, staff photographer

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