| kwwa |
2002-10-28 14:23:40, 조회 : 399 |
Situation of Women Workers' rights at work and
Their struggles in Korea
An article for ICTUR
Maria Rhie Chol Soon
The main power of Korean economy growth has been women workers who had been engaged in the light industries of 1960- 1970. Most of women workers were put into the light industries such as garment and textile, and the government put their efforts in the export oriented economy policy, which was based on the low wage, terrible working conditions and oppression against the workers' organizing. Through the 1980's on the basis of women workers' sacrifying, Korea has put the steps towards one of the four dragons in Asia.
Meanwhile, on the division structure o the world economy in 1980's, the Korean government spreaded the industrial restructuring policy with focusing the heavy-chemical industry, and in its process, the women workers who were working in the light industries have been to mass dismiss and instability of employment. However, since the workers' consciousness and activities have been getting more live, which was mainly related with the terrible working conditions like low wage, the government and the company blocked the workers' demands and put the strong strategy to destroy the organizing workers. Therefore, the employment of women workers has been worse in the withdrawal of foreign-invested company, transferring the domestic capital to overseas, and mass dismissal by the lock-out of mid-small industries.
Thus, the women dominated industries such textile, shoes, garment and electronics have been classified as a fading industry, so the government did not care for that. Many women workers were faced to a sudden dismissal since the foreign-invested company made a decision to withdrawal their capital, and women workers became an unemployed.
These dismissed women workers organised a continuos struggles against the company lock-out and struggles for the employment guarantee. Even, they went to USA and Japan for their struggle. Regarding the employment and the amendment of foreign-invested company law, they organised a solidarity, so the issue of employment was socialized to the public.
The government strategy on employment in 1990's has been focused to expansion of temporary workers and introduction of foreign workers. The employment strategy to strengthen low wage policy and to destroy the workers' power have been expanded with temporary workers, part-timer, contract-based workers and daily workers. Since these workers are mostly women, the women workers' employment has been getting unstable. Specially labor market flexibility, which has gained popularity since the 1990's is adapted by the government as a labor policy and by enterprises as a business policy. The labor market flexibility policy has played a significant role in systematically removing women from the labor market of regular workers. Consequently, part time and dispatch workers are mainly women. And among part-time workers, women comprise 64.9% of the total compared to 45.9% in 1990. Although the index of the Department of Labour designates part-time employment as working 30.8 hours or less a week, if an hourly wage worker in Korea were to work to the identical hours of a person in regular employment. However, part-time labour is limited in choice of jobs and in enhancing work skill even though employment stability and work condition equivalent to that of regular workers do the same work as regular workers, they are discriminated against interms of wages, days off promotions and reinstatement. And the percentage of women workers occupying permanent posts in the enterprises with more than ten employees decreased 9%, from 39% up 1981 to 29% in 1994. In particular, women workers of manufacturing posts in the larger companies decreased significantly. In addition only 5.8% of women workers work in companies with more than three hundred employees while 62.7% of women work in the enterprises with less than four employees are not protected by the labor standards act or by the other social security systems such as the minimal wage act, social pension, health care system, and employment insurance system.
In relations to the amendments to the labour law on December 26th, allow the introduction of the use of a flexible working hours system, and the right of employers to retrench workers in times of company restructuring,workers specially women workers en masse signals a drastic destabilization of employment security. Such legally enshrined power enables the management to freely dismiss large number of workers which it assumes to be redundant as a part its rationalization or downsizing programme, thus worsening labour conditions and increasing employment instability. The labour law is, therefore, worse than it was before. This has led Korean workers to say that this is a capital law rather than labour law
And the utilization of temporary labour through labor lease agencies is not entirely new, although much of the current practice is illegal under the present laws. The cost savings signify a fall in the wage received by the so-called contingent workers and an increase in employment insecurity. The lower level of wage and welfare allocated to the temporary workforce may bring about tension and conflict between the regular employees and the temporary workforce. And it will first infect to women who are working as semi or unskilled work.
And the National Security Law which the rights of investigation of cases where a person has neglected to inform the Authorities of knowledge of north Korean spies and persons who praise and encourage north Korea were given back to the Department of Intelligence, in the name of capturing spies. These regulations were used in the past to trample human rights and as a means of political manipulation. The powers the Department had during the military regime have now been given back. This means that any speech relation to north Korea or ay progressive political opinion is the target of investigation. Students, the press, workers and politicians, who are definitely not spies, remember the torture which was committed in the underground cells of the Intelligence Bureau.
Ps. Tom Sibley, Feel free to short it cut if you think it is too long, and I hope my article meet on your next issue of the journal.
I will send my photograph by air mail soon.
| | |