Founding Declaration

At this very moment, diseases and accidents and deaths are continuing at workplaces.

Murderously high disciplines and deadly intense labor are strangling workers to satisfy corporate avarice. Rational and efficient restructuring is a coded term for rational and efficient exploitation, leaving workers either impaired or in precarious positions.

An end to the status quo requires a fight and a campaign for workers to claim control of their workplaces.

However, corporate greed is deep and mean. With its feet it ruthlessly tramples upon workers, and with its hands it snares workers in class divisiveness and collusion—to preempt a will to fight back. It does not tolerate any resistance and struggle.

It is time the labor movement ended class collaborationism and substitutionism, and worked to unify the working class and wage an unwavering fight. To contribute its own share, the labor safety and health movement should shake off its own limits as a sector movement and its dependence on professionalism.

We declare ourselves the agent of a labor safety and health movement based on actuality, class politics, and specialization. Our actuality focuses on organizing workers in workplaces and developing them as agent of change. Our class politics is aimed at retaining uncompromising class perspectives against divisive and cajoling measure by capital. And our specialization exceeds the limits of professionalism and sectorialism and provides strategic values to the current labor movement.

We are clearly aware of the need fora national center that will ensure class solidarity for the labor safety and health movement by going beyond the boundaries of workplaces and breaking the divisive snares deployed by capital.

The Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health will fight on until it wins safe and healthy working conditions for all workers, and until it empower workers stand up and control their own workplaces.