At Gwanghwamun Plaza on Monday, May 11th, 2017. Twenty three NGOs for women workers, including Korean Women Workers Association and Korean Women's Trade Union, led a campaign called "No Pay from Today!" as to declare their will to break wage discrimination against non­regular women workers.

 

 

 

 

 

During the campaign, Ms. Younok Lim (standing representative, Korean Women Workers Association) said, "President Moon's government is not the one for the present ruling party, but the one for all of us, who rallied against the corrupt former government." Ms. Lim added, "If President Moon is really concerned about gender inequality and employment issues as he has declared himself, he must be the president for the non­regular women workers. This is the time to deeply care about equality and justice in their wages and working conditions."

 

Ms. Younok Lim (standing representative, Korean Women Workers Association) Korean Women Workers Association

 

Ms. Jihyeon Na (president, Korean Women's Trade Union) said, "non­regular women workers are one of the most marginalized in our society." and "President Moon already promised he would do his best to relieve discrimination against non­regular workers and to reduce gender wage gap at least to the average level of OECD countries."

 

Ms. Jihyeon Na (president, Korean Women's Trade Union) Korean Women Workers Association

 

In the campaign, Ms. Jeongi Lee (care worker, Share & Care Social Cooperative) pointed out care workers' inferior working conditions saying, "Even though it is tough to take care of patients, our hourly wages are just at the minimum wage level. This March, our pay got cut by 25% 'cause our working hours for some elderly patients got decreased from four to three hours, according to the new policy of National Health Insurance Service. These days, our monthly pay is only 8~900,000 Korean won (about 800 US dollars) for working six hours a day." She also criticized policy problems saying, "Due to the government policy, care workers for the disabled can not be given even the minimum wages, which makes many of care organizations give up their business."

 

Ms. Jeongi Lee (care worker, Share & Care Social Cooperative) Korean Women Workers Association

 

 

Ms. Huisuk Kim (leader at Sogang Univ. Branch, Seoul Office, Korean Women's Trade Union) talked about her difficulties at work saying, "I am a cleaning worker, and everyday, I have to get up at 4 AM to go to work. I'm working all in sweat even during the winter, but at the end of the month, all I got is 1,400,000 Korean won (about 1,300 US dollars)." She also criticized serious wage discrimination based on gender and employment status, and said, "An enormous wage gap between genders and between regular and non­regular workers seems like the modern caste system."

 

Ms. Huisuk Kim (leader at Sogang Univ. Branch, Seoul Office, Korean Women's Trade Union) Korean Women Workers Association

 

 

Mr. Gwangseok Kim, who introduced himself as a male non­regular worker, talked about his precarious working conditions as a night shift parttime worker at a convenience store; although his pay is just above the minimum wage, he can not ask his boss for higher pay, as it will probably make him fired right away. However, he saw himself still privileged as he, as a male worker, did not know much about difficulties his female coworkers were facing such as their stress from customers’ condescending attitudes and sexual harassment, or fear of going home at midnight, which he thought all showed South Korean society had a long way to go for gender equality.

 

 

Mr. Gwangseok Kim (male non­regular part­time worker) Korean Women Workers Association

 

Ms. Gahyeon Lee, the president of Arbeit Workers Union (a trade union of parttime workers in South Korea) talked about employment notice she recently saw; for the same job, it was offering permanent positions only for men, and temporary positions only for women. She said, “even though female parttime workers are facing lots of difficulties at work, such as emotional labor at a call center or information desk, sexual harassment, and verbal abuse, they are not given enough pay and social respect.” She also criticized sexual discrimination at work, saying “a recent survey shows 97% of female parttime workers are required to put on makeup on their job, which makes them spend their own money to buy cosmetics for work. Finally she added, “achieving human rights is not something to put off.”

 

 

Ms. Gahyeon Lee, the president of Arbeit Workers Union Korean Women Workers Association

 

After these statements, the campaign participants carried out a performance in which they smashed placards symbolizing wage discrimination based on gender and employment status. Inspired by a film Kill Bill, women workers in a yellow jumpsuit went first, which was followed by the other participants who smashed their own placard in the performance. On this day, similar campaigns and performances against the wage discrimination were simultaneously carried out also in the other cities over the country, such as Jeonju, Gwangju, Daegu, Gyeongju, and Busan.

 

 

 

‘The Smashing Performance’ Korean Women Workers Association

 

 

As of now, while men regular workers’ average monthly wage is 3,440,000 Korean Won (about 3,200 US Dollars), women nonregular workers’ is 1,230,000 Korean Won (about 1,200 US Dollars), which is below the level of minimum wage. Given average income for the men regular workers is 100, that for the women nonregular workers is about 36 (35.8%).

 

As of now, while men regular workers’ average monthly wage is 3,440,000 Korean Won (about 3,200 US Dollars), women nonregular workers’ is 1,230,000 Korean Won (about 1,200 US Dollars), which is below the level of minimum wage. Given average income for the men regular workers is 100, that for the women nonregular workers is about 36 (35.8%).

 

On last International Women’s Day, Korean Women Workers Association carried out a rally to urge participants to leave work early, as part of South Korean women labor organizations’ joint campaign 'Stop at 3 o'clock!’ to fight against the gender wage gap in South Korea. Gender wage gap in South Korea, 100:63, is so high that it ranks as the worst among the OECD countries, but this is the mere ratio of male workers’ average income to female workers’.

 

Compared to the male workers, the female workers are more likely to be employed as nonregular workers as well as to be given lower income; a half of all women workers in South Korea are nonregular workers. The wage gap gets even higher to 100:36, when comparing regular male workers’ income to nonregular female workers’. This huge wage gap can not be simply explained by the difference in gender and employment status. Therefore, we argue that one of the best ways to fight against the gender wage gap is to tackle the problem that a large number of women workers are employed as nonregular workers.

 

Given the wage gap of 100:36, it could be regarded that women nonregular workers work for free from the 11th of May every year, and this is why this day is chosen for the campaign ‘No Pay from Today!.’ Until the discriminationbased gender wage gap gets zero, we, Korean Women Workers Association and the campaign participants will do our best to end the gender wage gap in South Korea.

 

 

 

 

Posted by KWWA
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