Recently, Spain became the first country in the world to test a four day workweek,
with its citizens only working 32 hours a week instead of the usual 40.
We will wait and see how things work out, but we have reason to be optimistic.
Microsoft Japan tested four day workweeks without decreasing salaries, and productivity
increased by 40%.
Although many workers around the world are still suffering from extreme hours and starvation
wages, these developments are signs of improvement.
In my state of California, the minimum wage is $14/hr.
Although that’s higher than that of many other states or other countries, it’s still
really difficult to get by on just $14 an hour.
Now imagine being a wage worker in 1960s South Korea, under a dictator partnered with large
corporations that did not guarantee any minimum wage at all.
Let us now put ourselves in the shoes of Jeon Tae-il, a labor activist from that time period.
He had to drop out of school when he was 12 years old to help his family, which was hopelessly poor.
He eventually became a tailor in a textile factory in 1965, at age 17.
Jeon Tae-il worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week, and made $1.81 a day.
Not an hour, a day.
That was barely enough for a cup of tea.
Even after being promoted, he only made about $108 a month.
For reference, a minimum wage worker in California today would make $2240 a month, and even that
is often not enough.
And he wasn’t alone in this treatment, either.
At his factory, Jeon was surrounded by twelve, thirteen-year-old girls, working 14 hours
a day, without as much as a lunch break, and getting paid $2.
Surprisingly, these working conditions were actually illegal, yet no one was held responsible.
You see, there was a law called the Labor Standards Act that had been passed in 1953.
Jeon Tae-il found out about this law in 1968 and was shocked to find out how well it was being broken.
For example, the law established a 40-hour work week, but Jeon was working 98.
One day of rest was guaranteed per week, but Jeon and his co-workers got 2 days a month
if they were lucky.
Children under 15 weren’t supposed to be hired, yet Jeon was surrounded by 12 and 13 year olds.
Now, why was this law being so grossly and blatantly ignored?
The legislation was nothing more than a symbolic move, designed to rival North Korea’s communist
ideology, which sought to appeal to workers.
South Korea at the time was also focused first and foremost on industrialization and economic
growth, so working conditions fell off the radar.
Jeon was determined to make sure this law got enforced.
In 1969, he founded the Idiot Society (바보회).
The name meant that workers were being treated like idiots by their employers because they were uneducated.
The purpose of the organization was to educate workers on their rights according to the Labor
Standards Act and demand enforcement of the law.
In December 1969, Jeon wrote a letter to President Park Chung-hee, pleading with him to improve
the lives of workers.
The letter was never received.
Undeterred, in late 1970, the Idiot Society sent a petition with 90 signatures to the
Department of Labor.
The petition was finally printed in a major national newspaper, so it got some attention.
Encouraged, the Idiot Society expanded to include tailors from two other factories,
being renamed the Triple United Society (삼동회).
They attempted to form a labor union.
A labor union guarantees the rights and working conditions of workers through a process called
collective bargaining.
The workers in a union unite to negotiate with their employers for better terms.
If the negotiations fail, unions sometimes go on strike, meaning they simply stop working.
This is meant to force the employers to return to negotiations.
However, Jeon and his colleagues weren’t so lucky—they were unable to even form a
union due to interference from employers and the government.
Still, they were not quick to give up.
They spoke to numerous news outlets until finally, in October 1970, many evening newspapers
in Seoul printed descriptions of the horrid conditions of textile workers.
During that month, they sent a petition to both the Department of Labor and the President,
but they were rejected.
On October 24th, Jeon tried to organize a protest on the streets of Seoul, but the police
stopped it before it even started.
The Labor Department finally promised to introduce new regulations by November 7th.
When the day came… nothing.
Nothing happened.
The next day, Jeon and his colleagues planned to publicly burn a copy of the Labor Standards
Act to demonstrate its uselessness.
At least that’s what Jeon told his friends.
He actually had a plan of his own.
On the morning of November 13th, Jeon and his colleagues went out to protest, but their
placards were confiscated by the police.
In the afternoon, Jeon carried out his final plan.
He poured gasoline and petroleum on himself and set himself on fire.
Burning, he ran around the street in which his factory was located, shouting the slogan,
“We Are Not Machines.”
He went on burning for a few minutes, collapsing with the words, “Enforce the Labor Standards Act.”
He was transferred to a hospital, but nobody properly treated him.
He died at ten o’clock that night.
He was just twenty-two years old.
News of his sacrifice sparked South Korea’s labor movement.
In the rest of 1970 and in 1971, at least two more workers burned themselves to death
as Jeon did.
And in 1971, there were about 1,600 cases of worker protests/strikes around the country
— ten times more than in 1970.
Truly, Jeon’s tragic story inspired many others, who then carried on the fight.
His legacy is a testament to the power of the youth to make lasting change,
a theme repeated throughout Korean and world history.
These efforts finally came to fruition in the mid- to late-1980s, with the establishment
of South Korea’s first minimum wage law and an explosion in the formation of labor unions.
Between the 1940s and 1970s, South Korea rapidly developed from one of the world’s poorest
countries to one of the wealthiest.
It continues to boast one of the world’s top economies, with major corporations like
Samsung and Hyundai reaching markets on a global scale.
However, we must remember on whose backs this success was achieved.
South Korea’s economic miracle came at the cost of the suffering of workers like the
factory tailors.
We are forever indebted to them.
Before we wrap up, I just want to leave you with a few questions.
Do you know anyone who’s part of a union, and have they ever had to go on strike?
Most importantly, how do we balance modern material abundance with its costs, especially
working conditions?
Many workers around the world still suffer from starvation wages and inhumane hours.
These are all important questions still relevant today, over 50 years after Jeon Tae-il’s sacrifice.
Thank you for watching, and I hope you learned something today.