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‘Still out on the street waging this fight’: Women irregular workers and industrial action in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Kim Young

    (Pusan National University, Republic of Korea)

  • Kaye Broadbent

    (Griffith University, Australia)

Abstract

This article reviews the 510-day strike by women irregular workers in the South Korean retail industry, and analyses factors which made a group of women irregular workers, whose employment conditions render them the most marginal employees, to sustain a lengthy struggle despite financial and family pressures. This article argues there are three factors behind the struggle: first their desire to address the employment discrimination and inhumane treatment they faced at work; second their belief that the struggle was larger than just their immediate demands; and third the solidarity and support they received from both the union and full-time colleagues and from the broader community.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Young & Kaye Broadbent, 2018. "‘Still out on the street waging this fight’: Women irregular workers and industrial action in Korea," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(2), pages 228-248, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:39:y:2018:i:2:p:228-248
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X15620847
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Jihye Chun, 2009. "Legal Liminality: the gender and labour politics of organising South Korea's irregular workforce," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 535-550.
    2. Glenn Adler & Eddie Webster, 1995. "Challenging Transition Theory: The Labor Movement, Radical Reform, and Transition to Democracy in South Africa," Politics & Society, , vol. 23(1), pages 75-106, March.
    3. Melanie Simms & Deborah Dean, 2015. "Mobilising contingent workers: An analysis of two successful cases," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(1), pages 173-190, February.
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