Every month, we plan to showcase a list of themed content recommendations from the first wave of our Ambassador team. This month’s theme is “labor rights.”

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Title: Cart (2014)

Directed by: Boo Ji-young

Plot: A story about laborers who are unexpectedly laid off from their place of work. 

Reason for selection: I chose this movie because it gave me an opportunity to think about labor organizations and labor rights through the characters, who, at first devoted to their work, begin to resist their company’s injustices and claim their rights. As this movie shows the realities of contract workers and the society around us, it is easy to empathize with and be immersed in the film. It also allows us to re-evaluate our attention towards labor realities, I would highly recommend “Cart.”

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Title: I don’t fire myself (2021)

Directed by: Lee Tae-Gyeom

Plot: The protagonist, delegated from her long-term job to a subcontracting company, fights against realities to return to her rightful place. 

Reason for selection: I selected this piece because the protagonist’s struggles to maintain her position despite the involuntary discriminations that she faces accurately reflects the real-life difficulties of labor rights. 

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Title: Snowpiercer (2013)

Directed by: Bong Joon-ho

Plot: The Earth is frozen solid due to extreme climate abnormalities. A single train carrying all the survivors circles its orbit. The cold and hungry are housed in the end car, while the selected few enjoy drinks, drugs, and other luxuries in the front of the train. Equality does not exist on this train.

Reason for selection: Those living in the end car play instruments, catch fish, and farm vegetables for the passengers of the front car. They are a metaphor for laborers. As the group of oppressed rebels push towards the front of the car, the other oppressed individuals look on. This shows how the engine is capable of functioning even without ruled over and oppressed laborers, while the bystanders indicate the laborers who have been incorporated into the labor system. 

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Title: Oleg (2019)

Directed by: Juris Kursietis

Plot: Oleg, a young Latvian, travels to Belgium in search of better wages. He works hard as a butcher but a coworkers betrayal leads him to lose his job and live a life of hardship. This movie realistically depicts the struggle of immigrant laborers. 

Reason for selection: This movie is based on a true story. It is so realistic that it borders on the uncomfortable. Immigrant laborers’ immigration statuses are held hostage, making them susceptible to wage exploitation, violence, and crime. I think it necessary to inform audiences of the realities of immigrant laborers through this work. 

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Drama, Webtoon ‘Awl’

Written by: Choi Kyu-seok

Plot: Military officer-turned-manager protagonist (Lee Soo-in) refuses the company’s illegal firing order and begins a labor movement with a Certified Public Labor Attorney (Goo Go-sin).
Reason for selection: My favorite line from this work is “the view changes when you change where you stand.” It refers to the change in attitudes in individuals as they gain power through organized labor movements, or jump ship to work with corporate. However, I wonder if true solidarity comes from those who stand in the same place. I want to be able to acknowledge differences, and sustain a mindset that gives strength to those who stand in different places from I. 

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Video: Labor Rights, and Jeon Tae-il

Plot: Jeon Tae-il worked to become a sewing worker despite living an impoverished life, but could not stand the lack of human rights that fellow workers were given. He worked for labor rights his entire life but died of self-immolation at the young age of 22. 

Reason for selection: Despite advocating for labor rights to change the reality that he, and young coworkers, were facing, he was turned away by every legal, governmental system. I have great respect for the sacrifice that the young Jeon Tae-il made in his self-immolation, pushing for human rights in the labor industry. 

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Title: Labor Rights Class is in Session

Written by: Yang Sul, Choi Hae-yeon, Kim Hyun-jin, Jang Yun-ho, Joo Yae-jin

Plot: Five teachers who work in labor education speak of the human rights classes that they have experienced. 

Reason for selection: Labor Rights Class is in Session is a book targeted towards teenagers that puts a spotlight on laborers and the meaning of labor, where teens can easily learn labor concepts such as minimum wage. For young adults who have to enter society, this book introduces the concept of labor rights and carries with it a hope that their human rights are guaranteed. 

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Title: Laborer, Collapsing

Written by Hee Jung

Plot: People who do not have to die are dying while they work. This book provides a detailed record of the “murders” that happen because money is prioritized over people.

Reason for selection: I was impressed by how the author described these industrial accidents as “murders” not “accidents.” They are people who did not have to die, had we provided a little more attention, spent a little more money to provide safety mechanisms. It is not an accident to let people die and cover up their deaths while having this information. People’s attentions are needed. 

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Title: Finding Hidden Labor 

Written by: Choi Gyu-hwa, Jung Yoon-young, Shin Jung-im

Plot: Finding Hidden Labor tells the stories of laborers who pass by us in our everyday lives. We are able to learn new things about the working environments of laborers we see everyday. 

Reason for selection: It strives to teach us about the labor that we take for so granted. I hope that by discovering the new in the mundane, we are able to stand in solidarity with our neighbors.

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Organization: Seoul Emotional Labor Center

Work that the organization does: This organization researches the realities of emotional labor and uses this research to consult and advise institutions to create safety mechanisms to protect emotional laborers. They also provide 1-to-1 and group therapy sessions for emotional laborers and provide emotional labor-related education for institutions.

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+) Detailed work

Research-wise, the Center looks at the realities of emotional labor. They provide consulting and manual advising support for institutions so that they can create mechanisms of support for emotional laborers and carry them out. The Center also acts in a regulatory manner, checking to make sure all of the support systems are well-implemented. They also host related forums and briefing sessions. 

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Education-wise, the Center provides education for worksite harassment in addition to emotional labor. Their therapy wing provides not only 1-to-1 and group therapy sessions but also supports organizations that emotional laborers have established. 

Additional marketing programs create and distribute promotional materials, and host related content contests. The networking program views the issue of emotional labor from a variety of perspectives and acts as a hub where organizations and institutes can connect to solve this issue.

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Reason for selection: Recently, there are increasing amounts of people who are suffering from depression and stress due to emotional labor. I believed that introducing this organization may help people like them.

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