In Seoul, South Korea, a fatal accident happened when a sub-contracted worker of Samsung Electronics Service fell down from a 3-story building while he was repairing an air conditioner condenser unit on the building's exterior. The worker, Mr. Jin, has been working in poor working conditions without any safety equipment.
Samsung Electronics Service, a subsidiary of Samsung group, is entrusting its machine repair services to subcontractors. Mr. Jin was an employee who belonged to one of the subcontractors. He used to work 14 hours a day. On the day of the fatal incident, the late worker did not even have enough time to eat lunch packed by his wife.
Mr. Jin's death is notably related to "The confession - The wives of the union members of Samsung Electronics Service," a video uploaded on Youtube back in 2013, which discusses the poor working conditions suffered by their husbands while working for the tech giant.
In the video, a wife of one of the workers said "My husband told me that during the morning meetings, the manager said that the workers might fall down when they install the air conditioner condenser unit outside, especially during the summer."
"However, because they do not wear safety equipment, the manager said that workers should fall down from the buildings in a proper manner. If they fall down and die and if their intestines burst, the company would have to spend money to clean their remains, so he told them to fall down well if they do."
Another wife said, "My husband never came home before 9pm. When customer satisfactory level is low, then they have to stay behind and have meetings. When they are busy, he comes home at midnight or 1am."
"Even during the holidays, he would always carry his equipment tool bag in the car. Because he had to set off right away if there is an emergency request from customers. He has been working like that for almost 20 years. He doesn't even have time to go to restroom, let alone the time to have meals."
In additon, the wives of the workers brought up the problem about vacations. They said that having vacations during the summer when it was the busiest time of the year is only a dream. When not busy with work, the workers still have meetings, tests and other activities so they explained, "To their children, their daddy is someone who is not next to them."
The subcontractor used to push the workers mentioning of their achievements and pressured them to work till late to work on even one more case.
The remaining fellow workers are still thinking today "Mr. Jin's story can be my story of tomorrow." It is tragic that many workers have to work risking their lives in their poor working environment while they work for such a big company in Seoul.
