The Hyesan Forestry Machine Factory in Ryanggang province was forced to retract an overtime work order just one day after it was issued, following strong resistance from workers.
According to a Daily NK source in Ryanggang province recently, the factory’s elementary party committee on Feb. 21 ordered employees to work an extra hour daily from Feb. 22 until the end of the month. The directive came with instructions to “unconditionally” fulfill the February production plan.
The committee urged workplace supervisors, party secretaries, and leaders of the factory’s General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea and Socialist Patriotic Youth League to “awaken workers ideologically” and encourage them to focus their “spiritual strength” on meeting production targets.
However, workers immediately rejected the extended hours. They complained that the issue wasn’t just accumulated fatigue—it was an arbitrary order issued when the factory lacked basic production necessities.
“What’s the point of working longer hours when we don’t have power or enough supplies?” one worker complained.
Despite knowing most workers opposed the directive, union and youth league officials tried to pressure their members to “do their duty,” responding to the party committee’s order with theoretical arguments rather than addressing practical concerns.
Workers stood firm, calling it “monstrous to compel extended work hours without creating an environment enabling laborers to work.” Some even challenged party officials to “get on the work floor” and stand with them until the end of the workday.
“Officials might have full bellies, but we’re different,” workers protested. “We have to pick up our wives, who spend all day in the marketplace trying to earn enough money for us to survive.”
Caught between the party committee and angry workers, union and youth league officials admitted there was little they could do. Facing this fierce resistance, the factory withdrew the overtime order less than 24 hours after it was issued.
“The factory now only makes a few parts for lumber transport trains at the request of forestry enterprises,” the source explained. “Operations haven’t returned to normal, so workers simply wait around on-site in the cold until they can go home. Extending work hours would waste their time even more, so discontent was inevitable.”
“The factory often forces workers to perform auxiliary tasks like cleaning because Kim Il Sung visited it in the past, making workers even more hostile to extended hours,” the source added.
March 10, 2025 at 08:28AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)