① The Problem of Low Wages
As stipulated in the preceding paragraph, the most serious problem faced by women workers was the problem of low wages. 89.7% of the interviewees replied that their wages were too small.

Table 1. Wage Distribution

58.4% of the women replied that they receive more than 400,000 won but less than 500,000 won and 89.7% of the women replied that they receive less than 600,000 won. However, this does not mean that these women workers worked shorter hours. The shortest working time was 46 hours and 2 minutes (recess time and weekends non-inclusive).This is close to the legal working time of 44 hours but the wages received by these women were far too small.

② The Living Conditions of Women Workers
The average number of family members of the women workers were revealed as 3.41 persons. 1/4 of these women were heads of their families or lived alone. 34.9% also replied that they were the sole breadwinners in the family. Accordingly, 1/3 of the women replied that they bore the burden of survival even though husbands or grown children exist.
As such, these women are not providing supplementary income but are the main upholders of the household. This can also be seen in the proportion of their income versus the income of an average household - 496,254 won versus 1,045,797 won - 50% of the income of an average household.

■ Reasons for Low Wages

The reasons for the conditions of low wages can be summarized as below:

① Increasing of Irregular Work
Most of the women workers replied that they were formerly full-time workers but were transferred to contract agency work and in the midst of such unstability employment, the working conditions of these women including wages and leave deteriorated. Former full-time workers when commissioned by contract agencies had became irregular workers.
49.4% replied that they were full-time workers before their present form of employment, 28.0% replied that they were employed as irregular/contract agency workers from the beginning while 22.0% replied that they had no clue as to their mode of employment.  This also means that 50% of the contract agencies are sending workers to their former  full-time workplaces. That is to say that these workers employed by the contract agencies were formerly full-time workers of the workplace where they are presently working at.
On the question `if the change in the workplace meant the change in employers,’ 76.4% replied that the workplace was the same and only the employer has changed. This is a typical example of the mode of employment in practice. Workers stay in one workplace but the employer has changed hands. As such, workers stay continuously in  the same workplace but under different employers.
The comparison in wages received by these irregular workers versus the wages received by full-time workers in the same workplace shows clearly the seriousness in the wage conditions of these workers.

Table 2. Wage Comparisons between a full-time

Worker and a contracted worker

There is a wage difference of 779,062 won, the full-time worker receiving 2.7 times more than the irregular worker. Even if the intensity in the type of work carried out exists, there is no rationale for such difference in wages.

② The Solidification of Low Wages By the Minimum Wage System
These irregular workers cannot expect any wage increases coming from the length of working experience or the length of employment in the same workplace. Their wages are only based on the contract signed when they first started work. Their wages remained the same or at times even decreased in value.
According to a women worker who responded to the questionnaires,“it is 420,000 won for a worker with 10-year working experience and 420,000 won for a worker with 1-year working experience. How can this be possible?” The contracted janitors in the above S University all received the same 460,000 won irrespective of their length of employment in the same workplace.

On the question whether there had been any wage increases in the past three years, 39.8% replied that there were wage increases, 26.9% replied that there were decreases and 31.5% replied that there were no changes at all. 1/3 of the interviewees replied that there were no wage changes with the passing years and one out of four women replied that wages were actually decreased. During our study, many women informed us that "it was 600,000 won three years ago but was unilaterally lowered during the IMF crisis to the present 400,000 won",  "We receive 440,000 won at the moment. But our contracts are expiring and a new contract agency has been commissioned and has came around asking if we would agree to a cut of 30,000 won in wages."

The main reason why these women face such low wage conditions lie in the fact that the minimum wage has been legally set at too unrealistically low standards. Contract agencies formulate the unit price of contract work in their tender bids following legal minimum wage standards. Since contract agencies are competing to lower the unit price of contract work, it is no surprise that the wages of contract agency workers remain the same and are on the verge of decreasing.

Table 3. Wages (Research based on individual workers)

The conditions of low wages is reflected in the workplace as well. The average total amount of wage given out is 519,250 won  and 85.3% of employers give out wages less than 600,000 won.
14.7% of employers give out wages less than legal minimum wage of 421,490 won (44 hours weekly, 226 hours monthly). There were actually 4 cases where the basic wage was set at 421,490 won. The dismal legal minimum wage standards are hindering the wage increases of women workers. Unless the legal minimum wage increases, the wages of women workers would remain the same.
Despite such dismal minimum wage standards, women workers have not taken any collective action. Voicing their collective rights is impossible for these women workers because of their status as irregular workers and because whatever mode of employment they have relates to the renewal of contracts with the agencies. Such status causes workers to remain silent when the unit price of contract work is lowered and wages  reduced in the next tender bid. The ugly cycle of wage decreases keeps on continuing.
Strong measures are needed to stop the cycle of wage decreases as the tender price of contract agencies continues to fall. It must also be pointed out that the minimum wage system is not properly observed and government supervision on such matters remain slack.

3. Conclusion - The Problems with the Existing Minimum Wage System and the Necessary Countermeasures  

The wages of most women are continuously decreasing through each renewals of their 1-year contracts with the contract agencies. Even if this is not the case, the wages of women workers are determined according to the legal minimum wage system. As such, what is most urgently needed at this stage, is the reform of the minimum wage system.
The biggest problem with the minimum wage system is the dismal amount of wages stipulated. This standard can only be applied to 2 persons out of a hundred people. This standard is lower than the daily wage given out in public or self-help works.
This means that it is more difficult to attract workers to the labor market based on such petty wages. If the present condition of wages continues, it cannot be expected that the spirit of self-reliance of the poor would persist and this would lower the desire for work, thus, preventing the purpose of social unity, central to the function of social welfare.  
As seen in our study, the minimum wage system has been taken as the basis for solidifying the practice of giving out low wages to the workers instead of protecting them and as such, the standards of wages must be raised to realistic levels. Only then could the minimum wage system be put into effective use. The reform of the minimum wage system is urgently needed at this point as the women workers, as revealed in our study, were working longer hours than the legal working hours and not receiving sufficient pay to lead  decent lives.
The amount of minimum wage has been formulated on unrealistic grounds. The amount has been formulated based on the living expenses of workers, the standards of wages of workers in similar areas of work and labor productivity (the Minimum wage Commission, 2001). The most controversial aspect is the formulation of the living expenses of workers which was based on the living expenses of a single family of a 18 year old worker. Questions have been raised continuously on the issue and proposals have been put forward for the formulation of the minimum wage based on the living expenses of a worker less than 29 years of age.
From the women workers' perspective, it is unrealistic to see how the amount of minimum wage has been formulated. Economic participation is highest among 40-year old women - 63.1% in their early 40s and 62.8% in the late 40s. As seen from our research, women over 40 years of age cannot be considered as single workers.
Middle-aged and older women who make up the workforce in low paying jobs are in most cases the heads of their families. 1/3 of the women in our research were the sole breadwinners in their families. If the formulation of the minimum wage cannot be based on the standards required by these women, then the basis for formulation should be made more realistic than the one mentioned above. Another point to be considered is the increase in responsibilities of the workplace employer. A system should be set up to hold workplace employers and contract agencies accountable for any violations in the legal minimum wage standards as the wages of workers are decreasing below the standards required by law due to over-competitive tender bids which lower the unit price of labor of contract workers, ipso facto, lower wages. And unless such a system is set up the practices of illegal wage standards would continue.
Other measures would be the strengthening of administrative supervision allowing irregular workers to participate and supervise in the inquiry commissions and to reform the exceptions in the application of the minimum wage standards on short-term contract workers, Workers working less than 6 months and are 18 years of age, the disabled, apprentices, and occupational trainees.

Moon, Soon-mie   counselor, Gwangju Branch of the Hotline for Equality

Avoiding the Eyes of the Management
It was only April but the heat workplace employer. A system should be set up to hold workplace employers and contract agencies accountable for any violations in the legal minimum wage standards as the wages of workers are decreasing below the standards required by law due to over-competitive tender bids which lower the unit price of labor of contract workers, ipso facto, lower wages. And unless such a system is set up the practices of illegal wage standards would continue.
Other measures would be the strengthening of administrative supervision allowing irregular workers to participate and supervise in the inquiry commissions and to reform the exceptions in the application of the minimum wage standards on short-term contract workers, Workers working less than 6 months and are 18 years of age, the disabled, apprentices, and occupational trainees.  
reminded me of the hot summer days. I had received permission from the union to carry out my research on contract agency workers working as janitors and cooks in our regional university hospital. With the help of the union, I had no trouble visiting the workplace and meeting the management in charge. The management answered questions put forward but refused to give their permission when I proposed to meet the workers.
Avoiding the eyes of the management, I met women workers who were enjoying a late meal after finishing their duties in serving meals. The women looked annoyed at the interruption of their meals. Putting on a big smile, I said to them, ‘Hello. I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'm from the Gwangju Women Workers' Association’and handed out the ball-pens I had brought as gifts and explained to them the purpose of my visit.
Some of the women complimented on our work and the atmosphere warmed a little. We talked a little on the problems and measures needed on the minimum wage issue but when I started on the questionnaires, some of the women showed signs of hesitation, worrying about their jobs. The older the women were, the more worried they became about their jobs. It took a particularly longer time to persuade the contracted janitors. They took me to their dressing room as they were worried that they might miss their calls. The dressing room was in reality a store for broken chairs and beds but was used as a resting place as well. With inborn charm(?), I explained the reality of irregular women workers who were unable to find their legal rights. The women started to cooperate and as the questions continued, the women became more responsive and started talking about their own personal problems and frustrations.

High Labor Intensity But Low Wages
I counseled them on the specific allowances, working conditions and unfair practices contained in the pay check. The wages came up to a total of 500,000 to 550,000 won including all allowances and the women were in working in 2 or 3 shifts. We exchanged much information on low wages and wage increases, recess time and resting places.
The situation of the contracted janitors were serious. The work started at 5 am and most of the women started work on empty stomachs. The hospital wards had to be cleaned more than a few times each day and the women were particularly tired from the cleaning that has to be undertaken one or twice weekly using disinfectants. The day I visited was one of those days of cleaning with disinfectants. The women were mostly in their 50s and 60s and it pained me to see them sweating under such a heavy work load.

Wage Increases Urgently Needed
The wages of women in their mid-50s with 5 years of working experience as janitors received a monthly stipend of 520,000 won. Incredibly, this was the exact amount received by other women janitors who had worked for 10 years or even just a month. These women received less than the legal minimum wage but were not provided with any meals or refreshments. These women janitors packed two meal boxes a day (one for breakfast and the other for lunch).
The women workers said that the most urgent changes needed were wage increases and the provision of lunches. One woman smiled bitterly saying that there was nothing left over after transportation and meal expenses. Her husband was dead and her children have been dismissed from their work in 1998 due to company bankruptcy and are still looking for stable employment. As they are in difficult straits themselves, she felt that she could not, as a parent, impose on them for help.
One 46-year old woman said that her husband was bed-ridden with terminal cancer and her 17-year old daughter suffering from congenital disability and worried over the increasing hospital and medical expenses. Her monthly wage of 420,000 won could in no way cover the expenses and after going home from work around half past five, she would leave for another dishwashing job after looking briefly into her husband and daughter. This was still not enough to cover all her husband's medication expenses and she said that her husband was just counting his days. Her daughter had no opportunity for surgery.
20 years of cleaning have roughened the hands of the 50-year old women which have become senseless even to hot objects; backs have become bent under the heavy burden of cleaning. The protestations of the women workers such as "I wish they would just provide us with some rice. I am so tired of bringing sour kimchi and rice every morning. I bring it because I have to eat something to do this heavy work but I really wish I did not have to" still ring in my ears as I write this.
I held tightly to the hand of the woman who bought me a cup of coffee from the vending machine and who said that‘The KWWAU must work hard and help people like us to get some treatment.’Outside the hospital, the sun was too brilliant and I closed my eyes.  

Park, Minna   Working Woman Editing Staffer

A  mother who lights up at the innocent smiles of her children
You get off at Baekwoon station on subway line # 1 to reach the KWWAU Incheon Branch. The colorful words on the windows of the office were a sharp contrast to the crouching buildings in the neighborhood surrounded by high rise apartment complexes. The office was bustling with activity as if a traditional farmers' troupe had suddenly appeared in the neighborhood. The Bupyeong Self-help Supporting Agency was on the second floor.
The office has only recently moved into its present premises and was clean and bright, lively with the busy movements of the workers. Director Jung, Moon-ja, busy with the activities on self-help programs since the designation of the organization as a private self-help supporting agency last August, greeted me warmly.
Director Jung said that she has lost 3kg recently and wished she had two selves to carry out all the administrative details in the self- help programs as well as other organizational work involved. But she would need another self as she is a married woman. On the question about family life, she suddenly opened her bag and took out a photo and a printed paper and started talking about her daughter.  
Laughingly, she said, “I was a little sick recently and my seven year old second daughter sent me an e-mail saying how sorry she was for me. I was so proud of her and resolved not to fall sick even for her sake. I showed off to my colleagues at work next morning and everyone took off by saying "There she goes again."  

I can imagine how proud she must have been to have printed the e-mail message and carried it around with her. I could understand why she brightened up as she looked into the photos of her children.

“The older daughter who is in grade 5 is half a mother to the younger one. She is so grown up and no matter what happens, she is always at home when the little one returns from school.”

There was a similar time for Director Jung when she was growing up.

An unyielding spirit growing in the midst of painful memories

Belonging to the Yong-il Jung clan and living in Cheongan-myun, Hadong-gun, South Kyeongnam Province with about 20 to 30 families, Director Jung born in the year of the April 19 Revolution (1960) with a brother younger who was 2 years older, grew up in  comfortable circumstances due to her hardworking father.

“I lived there until I was 6 years old so I don't remember much. Only about a big stream that flowed pass the village and play stepping on cow dung. However, the village was on the edge of the Mt Jiri and many relatives were killed during the Korean War. I used to hear many war stories my paternal aunt - her husband had been killed and she had lived alone and raised her only child. The villagers were forced  to hang the taeguk-gie (South Korean flag) in the daytime and cooked rice for the South Korean soldiers and at night hung the ingong-gie (North Korean flag) and fed North Korean soldiers. Many people died unnecessarily during that time.”

Perhaps her unyielding spirit started to grow in the midst of the stories she heard. The guilt-by-association system was alive and kicking and that often lead to the sacrifice of not only the person incriminated but of relatives as well. She felt sorry for her many relatives who suffered because of the Korean war and who were in such stringent circumstances. It was clear that it was not due to the mistakes of one person. It can be inferred that her family history and the special characteristics of Masan (the city she grew up in) contributed to the growth of her unyielding spirit.

The Heungbu's Children in Masan
Her father had been the head of his family since he was ten years old and had put himself to high school with much difficulty and he moved his own family to Masan for the sake of his children's education. The difficult period in Masan started for the 7-member family including her grandmother. Her parents worked and her grandmother looked after the 5 children with love and wisdom. Her father was hardworking person  with a fierce temper and her mother quiet but large-hearted in her work and soon, family circumstances started to improve.

“We never wore clothes bought from the stores, only handmade clothes. We were known as Heungbu's children at one stage. We wore the same clothes cut from the same cloth (laughs). We all shared the room with my grandmother with the exception of the youngest and my dearest wish then was to have my own room with my own things in it.”

It was in the 1970s and times were difficult for everyone. Politically, anti-government forces were growing due to the harsh policies of the dictatorship and economically, the people were told to tighten their belts by the Saemaeul (New Village) Movement undertaken by the government.
At such times, the children are the only source of hope for the parents. All children grew up without causing much difficulty and did well in school  and she graduated with top honors from her middle school.

Her heart raced with the end of the dictatorship
She attended Masan Girls' High School and was interested in literature and dreamt of becoming a teacher. On one hand, she felt sorry for her friends and relatives who had to attend vocational schools due to straitened family circumstances caused by the growth of the Masan Industrial Complex. Her only hope was her studies and she was a model student but with her friends, she also discussed the many problems of the Park Chung Hee regime.

“The Bu-ma revolution occurred when I was a high school senior. My heart raced when I heard the shouts of "down with the dictatorship!" which could be heard in my classrooms too. My history teacher used to talk about the irregularities in March 15 elections and when Park Chung Hee was killed on October 26, he continuously said that if Masan rises, all could be changed. I used to think deeply on how I could contribute to the changes. We were in the midst of our university entrance examinations and we did not know if we could even sit for the examinations.”

Director Jung said that she could hardly control her herself when she heard stories of torture of a female university student on the hands of the emergency forces. It was a year she could not forget.

“I felt that it was useless studying in such a situation and I went to see my history teacher with a few of my friends and told him that we have decided not to go to the university. However, he told us that if we really wanted to contribute, we could do so when we were in the universities. So I think I entered the university for that reason (laughs).”

Sacrificing Her Youth to the Movement
Her brother was already studying in Seoul and she decided against the wishes of her parents to apply to a university in Seoul as she felt that Seoul was the place if she were to do something. She selected Ewha Women's University as she wanted to work with other women to accomplish her goals. She became a member of an underground student club and started her life as a typical student activist.

“I was arrested during a demonstration in my senior year and was imprisoned for 18 months. My parents were shocked as they did not know that I was even a student activist. My father was especially shocked as he had great hopes for his oldest daughter and drank heavily every day. He never wrote or visited me in prison.”

It was not easy going against the wishes of her parents and this was a most difficult period for her. She was released after 9 months and while others were fighting against going back to school, she had no choice but to obey her parents and quietly went back to school.
With only her graduation remaining, in December 1984 she went to work for an electronics company in Incheon Fourth Industrial Complex - following the road as a typical labor movement activist. She lied to her parents saying that she had a job in a publishing company. She was not without reservations. She had majored in the Korean language as she had an interest in linguistics and had hopes for continuing her studies but on the other hand, she wanted to remain an ordinary woman, happy with her married life. However, her spirit would not allow her to remain still in a world full of injustice and conflicts and she decided to give her life to the movement. Her entire youth was given to the movement.

“I worked for Inwoo Electronics which assembled cassette heads. I was happy there studying labor laws with my younger colleagues at work and going out with them, letting my dreams and hopes grow. I was healthy and growing plump (laughs). It was then I met Kim, Gie-sohn (first chairperson, KWWAU Incheon Branch) who had a lot of influence on me as a labor movement activist.”

In March 1986, she was fired when it was discovered that she had worked under another person's name. The government was trying to root out former student activists who were working under false names at that time. It was disappointing for her as she had been preparing to organize a union. It was only 5 years later that she and her friends were able to create a union with her as union leader.

Born Fighter
In the midst of her fight for reinstatement, the May 3 Incheon struggle occurred and she continued to participate in the historic incident in her capacity as labor activist. She established an underground club with another colleague who later became her husband and contributed to the labor movement with other labor activists, all who were formerly student activists.

“I met my husband when I became involved in the Catholic movements. As an activist, he was precise and to the point but in reality, was a tender and warm person. We were married in October and as living became difficult, I took a job with the Yongwol Communications, an electronics company. I also enjoyed my duration there but was fired again the following April when we were caught trying to organize a union. Then, the July & August Great Labor Struggles began. It's so strange that I am always in the middle of big historical events. Ha, ha, ha.”

She is a born fighter.

Became a Member of KWWAU
A total of 525 people were arrested during the 3-month long labor struggles which led to the growth many labor unions.
Director Jung had been busy with the organizing of unions and supporting reinstatement struggles and one day, received a proposal that would change her life. Lee, Jae-eun, who was working in KWWAU Seoul branch put forward a proposal for the setting up of a labor organization for women workers in the Incheon region.

“It was then that  it struck me. This is it. I had worked actively in the movement but has been rather erratic. I needed a change organizationally and was naturally welcome to the idea of building up a systematic and independent women worker organization I joined the preparatory committee and after fierce debates on the necessity of an independent organization for women workers, the Meeting House for Women (predecessor to the KWWAU Incheon Branch came into being in February 1988.”

Thus, she became a member of the KWWAU. She was happy and thankful for the space where women can come together to build on their dreams and cooperate on women related issues. She was in charge of supporting union activities, something she had done before but this time within the legal framework, allowing her more diverse contribution. She also gave birth to a beautiful baby girl

“I wanted to work hard so I put off having children and it was after 4 years of marriage when my little girl was born. She was so beautiful that I regretted having her so late (laughs). I was busy with KWWAU activities but I found a good daycare center and my husband helped a lot with taking care of the baby and housework, so I did not have much difficulty.”

Leaving Full-time Work in Tears
However, when both spouses were active in the movement, problems were bound to happen. The baby needed the love of her parents most but also needed to be fed. Her husband was still involved in underground activities and the KWWAU was in no position to offer a stipend. She had to earn some money to make ends meet.
It was a difficult time of oppression against labor unions and many unions in women-concentrated workplaces collapsed under pressure. She had not been feeling well after her pregnancy and lost all confidence.

“Finally, I decided to quit as a full-time worker and to remain as an active member only. I was really sad and cried for many days. I got a job as a teacher in a private teaching institute and spent 4 years on that job. I participated in the organizational and operational committees of the KWWAU but my heart was never easy as the organization was undergoing a difficult phase and I really felt sorry for my colleagues there. With such concerns in my heart, I felt that I could not live in such a way any longer. I fought a lot with my husband in those days.”

Again to the KWWAU!
With the advent of the IMF crisis and rise in unemployment, the KWWAU set up an Action Center for unemployed women and the amount of work just exploded. The activities of supporting women householders to survive the winter of 1998 was supplemented by counseling activities. She received a proposal from the then chairperson of the KWWAU  to return as a full-time worker.
She was fully supported by her husband who has turned into a citizen movement activist and her two children (the second daughter was born during the interim).

“I was elected as vice-chairperson with the present chairperson, Jo, Song-hae, during our general assembly in January, 1999. I was happy to receive so much support and felt that I have returned home. I worked hard to compensate for my years' of absence. I was sorry for my children who have to miss their mother's care but felt that work was the only way I could recompense for being absent. I really felt thankful to my husband who took care of the children and housework for two days in a week.”
It is the age of self-help projects!
She has been chosen as the person responsible for the self-help project as she had been in charge of the Action Center. This is a part of the women's movement which require new approaches as well as personal transformations. The project necessitates time and effort and it would be difficult to predict early results. Perhaps that is why the project has been so meaningful.
“It is not easy to balance the public nature and profits of the project but in comparison with other profit-oriented private businesses, this requires common participation, common mode of production and common division of profits. In the beginning, self-help project participants and coordinators were disappointed and discouraged. The participants resented our methods and half of them left in the middle of the projects. However, we believed that everyone had the desire to be self-supporting and we bore our difficulties together and did not give up. I don't know when it was but the participants started looking happier when they entered our office. They became more confident when they knew that we would not give up on them and they started hoping and opening themselves to us.”

She had disliked her father's rigid and flaming character when she was young and felt suffocated. As she grew older, she realized that his thrifty and precise character was a role model. Suddenly, she realized that she was growing similar to him.
Such character never permits giving up and she has to see the end of the project undertaken no matter what happens and this has often led to health damage. However, she is at ease nowadays. The self-help project coordinators are finding their places and they all realized now that speediness was just selfish desire and unnecessary to the success of the project. The foundation of the project should be strong and progress made a step at a time.

“Of course, we all want the project to progress and other branches of the KWWAU are starting self-help projects too and we would do our very best and hope people say that the projects have turned out well because the KWWAU was responsible for them.”

She is definitely a KWWAU worker, waving the flag regardless of place and time. I hope that all her projects which has become her life, will bear fruit and she, grow plump with satisfaction.