º»¹® ¹Ù·Î°¡±â ¸Þ´º ¹Ù·Î°¡±â

8th DMZ Docs(2016)

I AM DOCU



The Part-Time Workers¡¯ Union

Yun Ga-hyun

  • Korea
  • 2016
  • 78min
  • DCP
  • color

World Premiere

Synopsis

I found the Part-time Worker¡¯s Union after having been a part-time worker for eight years. At the union, I met other two other girls with the same name as myself: Ga-hyun. The part-time workers are upset and indignant at the way they are treated: the low wages, the mistreatment, and unwarranted layoffs. Now we tell our stories and demand a livable wage. We are not studentworkers but part-time laborers. Now we begin a rebellion!

Review

It is quite literally a 'hell' to work as a part-timer in Korea. Everyone knows but hushes the fact that we are living in a world of inexpensive dispensable easy labor. Knowing all this a famous Korean part-time job brokerage webpage even named themselves paradoxically ¡®heaven¡¯. There are dignified Korean youth who solemnly claim their right saying "I am a part-timer in Hellish Korean." The Part-Time Workers¡¯ Union starts it scene of a young crowd going on a hunger strike chanting ₩10,000 minimum wage in front of the Korean National Assembly building. And in that crowd there are three ladies named Ga-Hyun. They all have different reasons, but they are all women in their early 20s kindled at their unjust part-time work experience. Can part-time work be considered as 'labor'? Are the part-timers struggle a real fierce struggle? Isn't it pointless to create an union when the work of a part-timer is only part-time? The camera follows their daily life and handles the reality of the part-time labor environment and the gender inequality in their lingo. The way that some endure a year of dismissal and demand to be reinstated at McDonald¡¯s brings a strange deja vu of a labor movement in the future and all the reinstatement struggles they must have went through in the meantime. The Part-Time Workers¡¯ Union lodges a desperate truth in the voices of the youth, making it hard to consider their statement as senseless immature rebellion. [Kim Jeong-geun]

Director

  • Yun Ga-hyun

    The Part-time Workers¡¯ Union (2016) This is indeed a time of part-time work. Everyone struggles with unstable work, inadequate pay, and unsustainable livelihood. Although you work hard, it is hard to afford transport or a decent meal. Once you pay the rent you begin to worry about next month. Your bills pile up, and the council cuts electricity supply. Part-time workers are used to this life. Even if I sell 20 cups of 3,800 won coffee, I only get paid 6,030 won an hour. I used to hate myself. How could I have pride in what I do? How could I be respected for what I do? Through this film, I follow three female part-time workers on their journey to learning about their rights and becoming political, and of course, the struggles they encounter.​ 

Credit

  • ProducerKim Soo-mok
  • Cast Lee Ga-hyun, Lee Ga-hyun, Yun Ga-hyun
  • Cinematography Yun Ga-hyun
  • Editor Yun Ga-hyun

Contribution / World Sales

Contribution / World Sales  Yun Ga-hyun

E-mail  hyoniyam@nate.com​