Thursday, January 3, 2019

Remembering the Death of a Temporary Worker

Writing in 'In the Eyes of the Believer' a Catholic Times' column, a lawyer mentions his cell phone on the desk was ringing. He didn't sleep;  just closed his eyes as he laid in bed, not answering the phone—another drunk friend calls to come out in the middle of the night.

The phone kept ringing at intervals for an hour. Oh, that crazy guy. But that was not it. At around 3 am his sister, who lives in the same neighborhood, knocked on the door, shouting:"Brother, why aren't you answering the phone? I got a call from the hospital emergency room. Yong-gun is in the emergency room I don't know what's going on."

He descended into hell. In the early dawn of the new day, the turnpike had few cars but his sister felt all the cars were going too slow.The brother was overcome with all kinds of thoughts and as he was beginning to recover some peace of mind his body revolted and he became nauseous.

"The young man fell from a high place, some of his forehead and face bones were fractured but there was no internal bleeding and he is conscious. He has no breaks in his back or legs. He has been favored from heaven" these words of the doctor took him from hell to heaven but they were his wishful dreaming.

Oh, my God, He didn't know the word 'son' was such a word filled with dread. It doesn't take much to turn one's world upside down.

The trip to the hospital was long. They entered the hospital and looked for the name of his nephew on the emergency room list but couldn't find it. Yong-gun was lying in the hospital morgue, the doctors were not able to do anything. The 24-year-old son, in the prime of life, his body was separated from his head, the body burnt on the conveyor belt.


The son was a temporary worker at a power plant burning coal to produce electricity.He followed the conveyor belt to pick up the coals the fell from the conveyor belt. He would use the light of his mobile phone to do the work.
 

Seeing the work site the mother noticed the risk for accidents was spread throughout the workplace. The handrails provided for safety are of little help in preventing falls. Safety equipment that would stop the conveyor belt if someone was caught was not part of the safety net. Using such devices slows down the operation from time to time and that is bad for business.
 

It is said there were about 40 workers who died in the power plant in the last five years. It's more profitable for the company to have a fast machine without safety devices and compensate workers who are killed and injured. Money controls the world.
 

That's right. "What can I do to heal this world that causes a 24-year-old youth to die needlessly? I will pray for help to decide what to do to make this world a better place."
 

Yong-gun was eager to rid the country of temporary workers and so will the mother.  {workers without the full employee-benefit packages}
 

"I want to see you a lot. You have left us but your mother will be working like you to get rid of the temporary workers. I love you, my son."

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