Job training programs in Korea first began in 1962 under government leadership through the enactment of the First Economic Development Plan. The Plan pointed out quantitative and qualitative imbalances between the labor supply and demand and proposed job training as a means of supplying the labor needed for industrialization.

In accordance with the focus on light industries during this early period of industrialization, job training focused on developing skills required in light industries like textiles or spinning. The training was short-term and focused on developing simple, repetitive skills.

Eventually, this type of training brought about insufficiencies in technical skills training (requiring a minimum of two years training) and created greater problems as the economy grew.

Afterwards, the 0ccupational Training Act was passed in 1967, launching job training as a formal system implemented by the government.

The central OccupationaI Training Center was established in l968, bringing the first public job training facility into existence. In 1974, the Special Law on Occupational Training was enacted, which mandated workplace job training for a number of companies.

In 1982, the Korean Industrial Personnel Management Complex was established and made responsible for the training of technical skills needed for industry, the supervision of the government's technical licensing system, and research on job training. This complex took up the main role in industrial personnel development.

1. General characteristics of job training
   Job training can be classified by type of program: public, workplace, and private licensing. Public Job training programs are operated by the government, regional governments, or the Korean Industrial Personnel Management Complex.

   These program take up training for skills and job types that are in demand industry-wide and hence difficult for individual companies to train, skills that are needed for export industries, or job types in the newest, high-tech industries.

   Workplace training is carried out by individual companies to cultivate skills needed in their particular circumstances ; these companies carry out training either individually or co1lectively based on the size and circumstances of each company. Private licensing programs are registered with the Ministry of Labor and take up training that is difficult for both public and workplace programs to carry out.

   These programs are usually run by social welfare centers non-profit organizations or private individuals We can examine the training records of each program type. Between 1967 and 1991. Public training programs have trained 472.574 people, or 30.5 percent of total persons trained. Workplace training has taken up 54.2 percent of training completed in the same period, or a total of 840.966 people.

   Finally, public licensing programs have trained 15.3 percent of trainees or 237,601 people. Hence private, non-governmental training, which includes both workplace and private licensing programs, has taken up 7O percent of total training done in this period.

   However, the proportion of women trained from l978 to 1991 in all three types of programs totals approximately 20.2 percent. By program type, the respective figures are 4.8 percent for public centers, 26.6 percent for workplace training, and 38.7 percent for private licensing programs. Quantitatively, publicly-run programs hence have the lowest rate of training for women workers.

   In terms of types of training, skills acquisition training takes up 87 percent of all training done. Within workplace programs, 40 percent of training in 1992 was for skills acquisition, 37 percent for skills elevation, 22.8 percent for retraining, and O.1 percent for job transfer training. Compared to the respective 23.6 percent figure for 1991, training for skills elevation has expanded greatly. Within public training programs, 95.8 percent of licensing was for skills acquisition in l991. while only 1.2 percent of training was for skills elevation.

   Within these licensing programs, women usually participate only in programs for low-ranking skills. Women make up under ten percent of participants in the Iower_1evel licensing track and are concentrated in second_Ieve1 service professions or service assistant jobs.

   The total number of women workers receiving government-acknowledged licenses totaled 2,278,625 in 1991, 85.7 percent of whom were concentrated in the second-level technician category. Only 4.O percent were licensed as first-level technicians, 1.12 percent as technica1 engineers. Women workers receiving these licenses only total 13.2 percent of the entire women's labor force.

2. Characteristics of job training by program type
   1. Public job training

      Public training programs have been responsible for about 30. 5 percent of all training since 1967. Among these trainees. only five percent have been women. These programs are nevertheless important for women as they provide training in skills and licensing that are in high demand in industries. These skills include such techniques as metal formation, machine construction, welding, jewelry manufacturing, and dying that are important in export industries, as well as more modern. high-tech skills.

      Most of the public training concentrate on ski1ls acquisitions training. This holds true for workplace and private licensing centers as weI1. Seventy-seven percent of public training is for skills acquisition, while only 23 percent concentrates on skills elevation. Most skills acquisition training lasts only six months to a year.

   2. Workplace job training

      Workplace Job training is carried out directly by companies either individually or in company cooperatives. Training is offered in six industries: mining, manufacturing, electronics, gas and waterworks, construction, storage/transportation and communications, and service industries like garment mending, dying. and laundromat services.

      Training lasts from three months to three years. Beginning in 1992, the Occupational Training Act began to stipulate that companies with over 150 permanent, year-round employees in 1991 (in the construction industry, number adjusted according to 1991 construction record) carry out job training in the workplace. Those companies not complying were fined accordingly.

      From 1967, when the Occupational Training Act was enacted, to 1991, workplace programs have trained 840,966 workers. or 54. Z percent of trainees in all program types; these programs have thus contributed most to training workers.

      Of the total of 3,417 companies obligated to carry out training in 1992, only 16 percent or 551 companies did so, while the remaining 84 percent decided to pay fines instead. Among the 551 companies carrying out training, only 102 implemented programs for women workers; these programs trained l0,510 women workers, focusing on skills required in 4l job types.

      This training, however, was often not carried out every year, but rather intermittently depending on the circumstances of the company. What is more, these companies, rather than carrying out training that is actually in need in the workplace, tend only to implement nominal training to fulfill legal requirements; the content of training is hence lacking and often unusable.

   3. Private licensing programs

      The role of private licensing can be divided into two parts. In terms of main labor force training, these programs have concentrated on newly entering labor and short-term, 1ow-1eve1 training. This training has also played a socia1 service role through occupational training for juvenile delinquents social welfare recipients, the extreme poor, and the handicapped.

      Unti1 1991, these programs trained 15 percent of all trainees; this percentage is expected to rise to 25 percent in the future.

      Among the lO7 private licensing centers recorded in I99l, 78 centers provided training for 3,643 women workers, a total of 39. 8 percent of all trainees licensed by private programs. Among the various types of private licensing programs, individually-run centers take up the 1argest proportion of training.

   4. Other skills training centers for women

      Recently, the government constructed plans to fund short-term job training programs for low-income women with inadequate opportunities to develop occupational skills through the formal educational system or public job training facilities.

      These programs will be implemented by the YMCA through its educationa1 programming or its Women's Home, and will focus on training for basic skills like wallpapering, skin and hair treatment, typing, and machine-making.

      Centers for working women are already established in Seou1. Busan, and Kwan-ju, and 15 more are scheduled to be built between 1993 and 1997.

      The Women's Skills Training Center will focus on short-term training lasting from three days to six months, providing training in such service occupations as housekeeping, makeup, childcare, and laundromat services

3. Problems with current women's job training and strategies for expansion

   Problems with job training currently offered to women workers are numerous. First, women's training opportunities are quantitatively very lacking. According to 1990 statistics, the percentage of women trainees in all programs is 20. Z percent; in private licensing programs, 39. 8 percent; and in public training programs, 6. 8 percent.

   Secondly, existing training is too heavily focused on skills acquisition train- ing (87 percent of tota1). Third, training concentrates only on occupations traditionally considered 'women's work.' Fourth, women are excluded from training in technical skills. In 1991, women only constituted 7. 9 percent of trainees in public training centers involved in multi-skills development programs, which require at least two years of training and which have 15 percent rate of acceptance in licensing exams.

   Recently, the government announced the so called 'new personnel policies' designed to support technological development for international competitiveness and to foster, develop, and supervise medium and high-1evel technica1 skills in the production line.

   However, the portions of the policy plan regarding women state that 'for a productive redistribution of personne1, the reserve labor force must replace the shortage in simple production tasks. Job opportunities for mothers, funding for childcare facilities, and the activation of the part-time and home-based work systems must be supported, and a Home-based Labor Law enacted to protect the working conditions for workers. Simple production tasks within the company must be taken up by mothers, the aged, and the handicapped" ('Labor', January l994). Women are hence not intended to be the main focus of these new personnel policies, but rather seen only as a labor force to replace the shortage in unstable simple employment.

   In order to expand job opportunities for women, we must not accept the current government view of women's labor simply as a replacement for labor shortages.

   The various forms of gender discrimination in employment must also be eliminated for women to play an active role in industrial society. In order for this to occur, comprehensive plans for women's personnel development and job training must be drafted, plans which concretely select the women needing training ; propose improvements in the educational system, job training system, and in women's employment promotion ; work to eliminate discrimination at the time of hiring; and institutionalize women's welfare facilities and systems.

   In addition, a women's quota system must be instituted in all job training centers and active information and incentive campaigns fostered to recruit women trainees.

   Moreover, such centers as the Ansung Women's Job Training Center, which have shown positive results and are in high demand among women, must be established. Women's job training curricula in these centers must also be improved to include not just skills acquisition, but also skills elevation training. Training shou1d also move from its focus on female-dominated occupations to male-dominated ones inHigh-tech and heavy chemical industries.

   Lastly, despite the fact that most industries with high concentrations of women workers are classified as declining industries, resulting in numerous job losses among women, almost no training for job transfers or reemployment has proceeded thusfar Such training is urgently needed for these women. especially married working mothers.

   In addition, a women's job counseling center must be established nationally in order to create a link between job training and job information systems. Finally, an official responsible for women's employment and training issues must be included in the Job Training 1iberative Committee, currently consisting of labor, management, and government representatives, so that constant efforts to revise and implement government policies can be continued

Korean Citizen is a Japanese multinationa1 company located in the Jr2 industrial complex within the Masan Export Free Zone. Of the total of 36I workers (male 66, female 295), 83 percent are married women. The average age is 37; the average duration of work, seven years. The company proceeded with large-scale worker reductions in 1989 pushing out almost a11 the young unmarried women workers and leaving married women to fill the majority of job positions.

Having directly witnessed the company's deceptive tactics, the labor union, headed by its president Kim Ki-sun, entered into the 1994 wage increase negotiations.

Key issues in this collective agreement renewal struggle included payment for leaves, funding for children's education, and employee awards. When the company failed to show any intent to negotiate, the union notified authorities of a labor dispute on February 25. 1994, and entered into a legal struggle. The executive committee and union members entered into co11ective united action, carrying out such activities as menstruation leave usage, periodic walk-out's by union members, fixed-time morning check-in's, headband-wearing, ribbon and balloon-hanging, and refusal of overtime work.

Following the labor dispute notification, the company turned over partial production to its subcontractor Citizen Precision Instruments, reducing almost the entire workload of the parent company and making workers' jobs unstable. Despite such efforts, the union, adhering to its belief that it could only survive through united strength, held protests everyday and urged workers getting off work to join in the struggle. The union also presented updates on negotiations every other day.

In addition, the union women's division declared their opposition to the government's effort to make menstruation leave unpaid, denouncing it as a deterioration of maternity protection benefits. It actively encouraged the use of menstruation leave in the workplace, urging that it is sure to be abolished unless workers make sure to actively use the leave.

A poster encouraging the use of menstruation leave for a three-day period on March 8,9, and lO was displayed at work. In response. the company used legal precedents to claim that such efforts to induce the use of the leave was illegal, after which the union in turn told members they should use the leave only upon their own personal volition.

Nevertheless, workers in each work division proceeded with the three-day leave usage effort,and union members were even more enthusiastic as over 50 workers used the leave each day. In the end, the company, caught off guard by the menstruation leave usage effort, agreed on March 3 to negotiate a provisional agreement. When the company agreed to negotiate, the union held a general assembly and after the company's proposal was agreed upon by a unanimous round of applause. a signing ceremony was held.

One particular item to note in the collective bargaining agreement was the provision of a fund for children's education. Even in agreements secured by democratic labor unions, most children's education or family support funds are given to the male household head, and the wife, even if she holds partial responsibility for earning the family's livelihood, is not entit1ed to such benefits.

The Citizen agreement, however, provides educational funding for women workers with middle or high schoo1-age chi1dren and hence, makes benefits available not just to the male household head, but also to the mother (if both husband and wife work at Citizen. the funding goes to only one person. however). The support totals 70 percent of tuition for middle school children, and 50 percent of high school tuition (educational funding referred to here includes tuition, quarterly coursework fees. and extracurricular fees).

The union executive committee also made the effort to ensure that all married women receive this funding, even if this meant reducing the tota1 amount allotted.

Regarding the question of advancement, the union demanded equal treatment for women, who are now only given a W4,800 raise at one time compared to W6,600 for men. The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that this W1.800 gap be closed in two steps by increasing the women's pay raise by W900 this year and by another W900 next year.

Payments for seniority were also determined as follows: one don for five years continuous employment, one and a half don for seven years, two don for ten years. two and a half don for thirteen years, and three don for fifteen years.

Union activity in the Masan Export Free Zone had become quite stagnant following the mass worker reductions of 1989, but through this struggle, Citizen union members were able to reconfirm the vitality of the labor union spirit as they hung balloons at work, put on their bright red headbands, and attached ribbons proclaiming victory on their shirts.

I will never give up…

Jung, Yongja retired employee, Bucheon 00 Sewing Factory

The retirement allowance that never came

The sewing factory I worked for was not a small company by all means. There were more than 100 employees but with myself included, were all in their 50s and a few were even in their 70s.
There were relatively very few young people in the factory. And maybe that was why nothing was observed. There was no explanation forms detailing our wages per item and the monthly allowances promised for a full-month of work was never given out. What else can you expect from such a company? The basic wage was 438,000 won and a little added after overtime but no one complained and just went on working. The younger workers would move to another workplace if more wages were guaranteed based on their experience in our factory.
I worked for 3 years until a personal accident occurred and prevented me from working. I was hospitalized for a long time and in cases like mine, the factory had automatically dismissed the workers and I, too, met with the same fate.
However, the problem was with my retirement allowance which was not recompensed as time went by. Feeling frustrated I went to the factory and was told that retirement allowance was paid out three months after dismissal and overdue wages two months later. That was the company law I was told. I asked the secretary for the details of my retirement allowance and found the amount to be lesser than I thought.

Counseling by the Bucheon branches of the KWWAU & KWTU
I thought to myself that this could not be possible and decided to go for counseling at the Bucheon branches of the KWWAU and KWTU. As a result, I received my full retirement allowance, overdue wages and for the first time in my life, yearly allowances as well.
It was not very easy in the beginning. When I went to submit my appeal at the Bucheon Regional labor Office, I was so badly treated that I wondered why I was doing such a thing. Not all was bad but the first day at the place called Department of Labor, was really frightening. I wondered if I should give up but I remembered that I had done nothing harmful to the company and realized that it had no right to treat me so badly and I decided to go ahead with my appeal. I went with a colleague who had been dismissed at the same time and she wanted me to give up what I was doing.
I told the same story to the Bucheon branches of the KWWAU and the KWTU and they reassured me by saying that they would accompany me to the Department of Labor and even to the company if the need arose. I have always felt proud that I have never inconvenienced anyone in my life but I felt scared in such a situation and knowing the company, I really wondered if all would be possible. I was really heartened by their support and they accompanied me to the Department of Labor and fought with the company on my behalf.

Received overdue wages, full retirement allowance & yearly allowance
I was scared but I told my story and two investigations took place but the company still refused to pay. It was just for a few days but drained me so emotionally that I could not even go for my hospital treatment. The company owner had frequently said ‘Go and try to fight with the law. I know many people at the Department of Labor and the Blue House’. True to his word, I thought this fight would be useless.
On the last day of the meeting with the Department of Labor and the company, I received a phone call from the Bucheon branch, asking if I had a small recorder by any chance. I replied that I had a broken one at home and was told to bring it to the meeting. I was told to place the recorder in my upper pocket and to touch it a few times when the supervisor and the company personnel were talking. I was told to show the recorder to them and say just one sentence - that I would sue them. And the next day, the company recompensed me with my overdue wages, full retirement and yearly allowances.
I realized now that it had not been easy and I am just proud to have bolstered myself again and again after feeling hopeless about the whole thing. I
am proud that I could actually give hope
to other people. This experience which had occurred to me in my fifties has given new meaning to my life.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has taken my affair so much to heart and giving hope to every worker in need.