Welcome to BASE21

By Sangharsa

The migrant workers who always participate in the National Worker's Rally made sure they didn't skip it this time.

The rally reminded me that its also a school for workers and I recognized that migrant worker's rights will not be realized without a fight. But this years rally was different from past ones. The rally is held as a memorial of the death of Cheon Tae Il on Nov. 13, 1970.

Slogans like, "Abide by labour standard law", " We are not machines" and "Do not sacrifice my death" are shouted in the call for migrant workers human rights.

My friends and I thought that Cheon Tae Il was still alive and were reminded of May 26 when we denied the "illegal sojourn" and opposed "the trainee system". That's why those of us who participate in the rally as members of labour unions got a new impression.

The honour of being part of a labour union was made through the efforts of our comrades who activated the "fight for migrant worker's headquarters", with the belief that migrant workers are workers and the concept that those of us who have been repressed for a long time should be able to escape this repression. And the spirit of the workers, saying "Unity of equal labour", was the main influence for us to become labour union members.

We participated in the rally by marching along the Gongduk-dong Crossroad to Yeodo, shouting our request under the equal labour flag.

One of our members, also from Nepal, said, "I have considered Korea as a bad country after experiencing the bad actions of our factory owner (but) meeting with equal labour activists and migrant worker friends has made me reconsider Korea and help me find myself. I will join the effort to make the future of workers by ourselves.

The day after the rally, a member from Bangladesh said, "It is my first time across the Han River bridge. Over 300,000 people, including migrant workers, walked along the car-passing bridge. Like yesterday, we have to move and unify with Korean workers toward the day when we can live a normal lives as workers."

Now, we are workers and members of a democratic labour union. We hope they lead us to fight for worker's rights and the unity of all workers from all fields.