[Recollection] “For Gender Equal Labor in 2018”: The 26^th General Assembly of the Korean Women Workers Association

January 23^rd, 2018

The 26^th General Assembly of the Korean Women Workers Association was held in January 19^th at Daejeon NGO Support Center.

Representatives from eleven regional branches and other affiliated organizations attended.

A woman in 1970 and a woman in 2017 met together

Kim Kyung-suk Award where I met women in books

※ This article is written by KWWA Volunteer Jung, Seunghee.

  On 21 Dec. the strong wind stopped as if it cheers women workers’ fights. On the day I joined the 4th Kim Kyungsuk Award-women labor movement award for the year- and the Solidarity Night of Women Workers as a volunteer of Korean Women Workers Association. As I am a just a student and had a short experience of working, women labor movement is merely something in the book and newspapers. While I moved to the event site, I was a bit exited to listens from women labor movement activists directly and at the same time I was a bit nervous doubting I would be a help for the events.

  While I prepared for the event finding what I should do, many people came in the event site. Before the opening, there was a session where participants took photos in solidarity with women crews dismissed by Korea Train Express(KTX) with supportive messages and I was in charge of taking the photos. I was confident to see most participants readily taking solidarity photos.

  This year's winners are dismissed workers at KTX (KTX crew branch of Korean Railway Workers' Union), who have continued to fight against deceiving in recruitments and unfair dismissals for more than 4,300 days. I hadn’t known their stories in detail but I had a chance to learn their stories from a magazine closely. In 2004 they came through a tough competition to become the first crew of Korail. I can imagine how much they were happy as I am now in the same age of them at the time of their joining in KTX. And I became more sympathetic to their sufferings for the same reason

• Winner, KTX dismissed crew, clips (Click)

• Participants in the award event (Click)

  In the talk show following the award event, we listened stories from Kim, Seungha, the KTX branch chief and Jeong, Mijung, secretariat of the branch, and Lee, Chonggak, the branch chief of Dongil Textile. I am a student majored in Business you can easily meet anywhere and have little knowledge on the labor movement in 1970s. But I had a chance to read 'Korean Workers: The Culture and Politics of Class Formation' written by Koo, Hagen in a class on labor this semester. The book is written for the students in the US. So it was easy for me as well even though I didn't have much background on labor movements. The book is mainly about women in 1970s who played crucial role in the movement. While reading, I was astonished to learn how the government and employers exploited them and repressed the movement cruelly.

- Screening of 'the flowery (documenting YH trade union fights)' at the beginning of the event

  What made me sad was that women workers in 2017 still have the same experience with those who were in 1970-80s. I was frustrated at how long the women workers’ suffering lasted until today but Lee Chong-gak's speaking consoled us and gave a hope. Lee was one of the woman who had bitter fights in the past and she told us that she realized the fights were for herself in the end. Out of respect and inspired by her speech I was able to overcome frustration and to have a will fight to the end.

  In the end of the event participants made circles and sang by changing lyrics together. I took photos of them hanging around them. I found strong energies coming from somewhere when I see them as a whole picture. I might be overwhelmed by their collective experiences.

- Picture of circling and singing by changing lyrics

  When the world is seen from a distance, we cannot find it changing. But when you look at it closely, we can see the world changing slowly. We must remember sweat and tears which made progresses in the history. I enjoyed the moment of sharing experiences and pains and finally reconfirming the will of solidarity. That made the day meaningful and beautiful for a student who will be a woman worker in the future.

- Jung, Seunghee, volunteer having time with Korean Women Workers' Association activists and women labor movement activist in 1970s

2017. 12. 28

[Comments]

Measures to boost jobs for women in the perspective of gender equality at work must be effective  - in a response to the government announcement of measures to boost jobs for women

  The government announced measures to boost jobs for women today (2017.12.26.). The measures have shown that the government is concerned about jobs for women and gender discrimination. But it's still lacking philosophy of gender equality at work. The new government strategy is to build a fair society without discrimination by achieving gender equality and respecting labor. Despite, it fails to see women as labor who must be respected and regards them as labor force merely to be used, which has been mistakenly repeated in the past regimes. Now it must correct the view. Women workers should not be something to be used but citizens working independently and to be respected. This is the point to start with.

  The measures are lacking integrated thinking. They start with preventive measures for career breaking. The measures diagnose women's pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing as the cause of carrier breaking and focus them to solve the problem. The measures may be fairly said as preventive measures for carrier breaking women. But women are devalued in the whole process from job opening, recruitment, roles and duties at work, promotion to retirement. Women actually experience carrier breaking caused by low wages and poor working conditions. This is why the government measures should cover from the recruitment process to the measures for aged women. As raised as a social issue several times in the past, it is urgent to come up with measure for discrimination against gender in recruitment process and downgraded employment. To solve the problem, job division by gender must be considered. Many companies run business separating jobs by gender. This leads workers to face difficulties in redressing discrimination. Women take disadvantages because of downgraded employment, restrictions in promotion and wages caused by job division by gender and suffer damages in the form of employment. The government must take consideration of these problems in the measures.

  As of 2017, 52.4% of women workers are irregular workers and 21.6% are part time workers. It is urgently needed to provide a measure specifically focused on women irregular workers. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommend to lower the rate of irregular women workers which is seriously high. However, we cannot find any measures on the problem, which is serious problem itself. In addition, the quality of employment has dramatically deteriorated in the past regimes. The average wage of irregular women workers has been below the minimum wage since 2016. Against this backdrop, the government announced that it will expand flextime system, which seems to be very risky. The government policy reflects gender discriminated way of thinking, which put both responsibilities of work and family caring on women. The priority must be to check working conditions of short-hour workers and to improve their working conditions. Extremely short-hour workers those who work less than 15 hours in a week are not protected by Labour Standard Act including four social insurances, severance pay, leave and 2 year of duty of employment. Companies manipulate prescribed working hour contract standard by chopping down contract terms of regular workers. The government must consider how to cope with the problem.

  There are several measures we welcome but we still have doubts on its effectiveness. We welcome deployment of labor supervisor in charge of equal employment but it would not be effective with 1-2 supervisors by provincial offices. The government need to set up women employment division in the provincial offices which was removed under Lee Myungbak administration and secure sufficient number of labor supervisors to monitor equal employment. This only can lead to build infrastructures to implement labor policies in the perspective of gender equality. To secure effectiveness, detailed standard must be provided to incentives for companies including customized consulting support for vulnerable small and medium sized companies and National Pension Services investment on companies with good performance in women employment. The policy on domestic work service can be effective only when substantial measures including support for the four social insurances back up the policy.

  Furthermore, improvements in the process of applying maternity leave and monitoring the process are required in the environment where pregnancy means dismissal. But there's no measures on it. Support for paternity leave would be useless because we are at the moment that quota system for father's childcare is required. Expanding remote working system needs systemic complement. This is because the system would make blind areas of Labour standard act by employing workers as special employment status. The government measures are also lacking strengthening penalties on sexual harassment at work contrary to the government previous announcement.

  There's no measure to break up glass ceiling which is the strongest among OECD countries. We cannot find any strong measures such as female executive quota system, which was successfully implemented in countries including Norway. Despite the fact that Affirmative Action lacks form of employment, compensation for companies and penalties, the policy only tries to expand the coverage of companies without correcting systemic problem.

  We welcome creating official domestic work service market, disclosing gender equal wage information, newly establishing gender discrimination redressing process in the Labour Relations Commission, introducing punitive damages, ensuring contract workers maternity payment, expanding paternity leave, nurturing work-family balanced culture and enhancing gender equal education. But It is serious problem that the measures are lack of philosophy of gender equality at work and lack of countermeasures covering the whole life of women.

  Realizing gender equality at work is not an easy task. Policies must result in changes in life. The will of government and its implementation and changes among member of the society are prerequisite for it. We call for the government stronger following measures.

2017. 12. 26

Beyond discrimination and hatred, gender equality toward democracy

:Nothing justifies discrimination and hatred

  The National Assembly passed an amendment of Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act (Equal Employment Act) reinforcing employer's duty on sexual harassment at work on 9 November 2017. It's been 18 years since a new article on sexual harassment was included in the law. Despite, sexual harassment has not been rooted out in work places and a recent sexual harassment at Hanssem Inc. demonstrated the seriousness of sexual violence and harassment in the society. Although the amendment has been belatedly passed in the National Assembly, it has significance in a sense that it reaffirms sexual harassment at work is not a personal problem but a problem that a company has official responsibility for. It has importance in that the law reinforces employer's duty on sexual harassment as well.

  The amendment stipulates that anyone can report an occurrence of sexual harassment on the job to the employer, and the employer is obligated to verity what is reported upon receiving or recognizing it, while taking measures to protect the victim including changing working site and paid leave. When a case of sexual harassment is verified, the employer has an obligation to take measures to protect the victimized worker and to take a disciplinary action against the perpetrator. It also bans any disadvantageous action on the victim. When an employer takes disadvantageous actions on a victim, the employer shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or by a fine not exceeding 30 million won and when an employer neglects to verify the harassment, to protect a victim or to take a disciplinary action against a perpetrator, the employer shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 5 million won. It also stipulates the employer's obligation to change working place on the request from the worker when a sexual harassment is committed by a customer. The employer is also obliged to provide paid leave on demand. And an employer shall be punished by a fine not exceeding 3 million won when an employer violates the obligations.

  The law before amendment had loopholes as it had poor regulations on the employer's responsibility for verification, a follow-up process and ban on disadvantageous actions, which led to poor protection on the victims. It was rampant that victims suffered secondary and further victimization and damages such as bullying at work and disadvantages in employment, which was well illustrated in the survey on victims by sexual harassment conducted by Seoul Women Workers Association in 2016. The survey found that 57% of the respondents experienced disadvantages at work after raising sexual harassment issues and 72% of them left company. The law lacked in articles by which workers were protected from sexual harassment committed by a customer and this led to frequent sexual harassments by customers.

  Only one out of 552 complaints in regards to sexual harassment at work submitted to the Ministry of Employment and Labor was prosecuted and 26 cases were dropped. 453 were ended as administrative closure. There are complains that courageous complaints would result in little effects because of narrow interpretation despite the fact that these sexual harassments take place among working relationships.

  The number of counselling about sexual harassment at work via Hot Line for Equality & Counselling for Equal Employment has increased every year and women labor movements have continuously made efforts to amend the law to reinforce employer's obligation to protect victims of sexual harassment at work. The amendment was desperate and urgent as sexual harassment was in violation of equal rights for women and right to work with dignity.

  The employer's obligation including protection on victims must be effectively reinforced by taking the amendment as an opportunity. It is not a victim’s personal problem. This is why employers must carry the responsibility for verifying the case, taking disciplinary actions, and making efforts to prevent the recurrence of sexual harassment. The Ministry of Employment and Labour must have stronger responsibility to enact the amendment effectively. If it neglects its roles despite the fact that the law is amended, we cannot expect effectiveness of the amended law. Every corner of the society including employers and the government must continue to make efforts to make our workplace safe with gender equality and no sexual harassment.

2017. 11. 10

<Press conference statement>

 “For women, all of corporation are Hanssem” Brave women,

vicious corporations and a broken system

We, coming together here, have been accusing and fighting for gender discrimination in the labor market. We have demanded fair treatment for women’s labor who are forced to marginalized work and urged the need of decent jobs from the start for youth women. In line with this, we have made efforts to dissolve gender pay gap, to abolish discrimination on placement and promotion, to remove unfair labor practice in regard to child-care leave, and to eliminate sexual harassment/violence at work that women suffers routinely. Testimonies of survivors from sexual harassment at work have been requesting the disciplinary action to perpetrators and prevention measures, together with redressing measures, for sexual harassment at work, gradually resulting in outcomes to some degree toward reinforcing corporation liability and social responsibility.

In recent, sexual violence occurred in Hanssem and Hyundai Card, leading companies, shows how women are used for sexual objectification in a corporation. What outrages us is that the incidents were committed by bosses who have power to make decision on victims’ employment, and the corporations, which is supposed to be liable, is irresponsible in redressing, rather producing other harms against the victims. The fact that the distorted prejudice, which frequently spoken against victims in sexual violence cases, such as ‘Ggotbaem, false accusation, being in love relationship, misunderstanding, and etc, are encountered in cases of sexual harassment at work shows that workplace, for women, is not different from our society which be packed with misogyny.

Above all, the sexual harassment cases occurred in Hanssem and Hyundai Card are not exceptional but represent the actual faces of all of companies and workplace in which women in our society work. more than 53% of women workers of LG Household & Health Care, carrying on a strike for 52 days, experienced sexual harassment, and 72% of them didn’t make a complain about it. They appeared not to trust redress system of the corporation on sexual harassment and testified that they faced employment disadvantage when they disobeyed. We have witnessed, once again, the damage of sexual harassment women undergo at work through the bold testimony of the sexual harassment victim of Hanssem. And we are outraged that the company and society don’t recognize it nor do they make efforts to redress legitimately, rather they use vicious media manipulation to return the responsibility to the victim.

Often women in low occupational status, in non-standard employment, and in young age are victims of sexual harassment but it occurs in any workplace where power relation exists including old ages, managerial positions, professionals. At the Equal Employment Counseling Center, counseling on a sexual harassment case has been skyrocketing over the years. Sexual harassment is not only damaging individual human right of the woman worker but also results in crisis in employment by disadvantageous treatment and dismissal. Therefore it is a serious violation of labor rights.

A notable case is the case of Samsung which violates the article 14 (2) of EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AND WORK-FAMILY BALANCE ASSISTANCE ACT which prohibits disadvantageous measures against a victim of sexual harassment, rather incites bullying, exclusion from work, and giving low grade on the performance. The judgment of the court and decision of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on this case has been delayed for 4 years. In the meantime, more damage has occurred. It is the delinquency of duties of the court and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and an organized violence against victims of sexual harassment who has accused, with bold courage, a large conglomerate, Samsung. 

Bold women corrected the broken system.

Yesterday, at National Assembly, the EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AND WORK-FAMILY BALANCE ASSISTANCE ACT has been amended with contents to reinforce the employers liability on sexual harassment at work and to strengthen prohibition of disadvantageous treatment against a victim. It is one of the achievements brought by our action to testimony vigorously of, fight and be in solidarity against sexual harassment.

There should be no longer any woman who surrenders or leaves workplace because they are not able to cope with alone. We would stay with bold witnesses to alter the environment of corporations and our society so that corporations and social system all together never tolerate any sexual violence and gender discrimination.

[Statement]

demand government of a comprehensive measure

to eliminate sexual violence and harassment at work!

Last October 18, Moon Jae In government announced <5 year job policy roadmap>. It is an outcome of the government’s prompt action such as announcing forming an employment committee as the first president directive, claiming to be a ‘president for jobs’ and putting job policy as the most priority. At the press release, the government accounts that <5 year job policy roadmap> is ‘to present an action plan over the upcoming 5 years by concretizing job tasks presented in 5 year plan on government affairs, and an policy guideline to establish the direction of job policy in future.’ This newly announced <5 year job policy roadmap> is an indicator to show the philosophy and direction of new government’s labor policy and would influence women thoroughly. Then is the <5 year job policy roadmap> able to get rid of gender discrimination widespread in the labor market? In short, the answer is “No”

This roadmap has limitations in establishing policy, by placing woman as a part of target groups to be addressed, not as underlying agenda, and by limiting the way to address woman(gender) issue only to dissolving ‘career break’ caused by pregnancy, delivery, and child rearing.

However, women’s ‘career breaks’ is due to rather gender discrimination in our society than pregnancy/delivery or child rearing. As woman remain still as a main person in charge of care work at home and there is widespread gender discrimination in the labor market, majority of women work as non-standard workers at secondary work. Since the work is something minor they never feel the lack of the work when they quit, it is an occupation at low position with no future nor promotion, and it is paid only as the same as the cost to be paid for child care center, women can’t help but leave labor market voluntarily and involuntarily. Considered the situation of women’ work, it would be not appropriate to regard it as ‘career break’. It is because, noted when we expect the future we would manage our career, the majority of women don’t even have decent work worthy of being managed for career. From this point of view, it should be prioritized to resolve the matter of ‘employment discontinuity’, not of concern on ‘career break’.

Women suffer over the labor market due to gender-discriminatory culture which tolerates and aids and abets gender discriminatory employment practice. As a result, women are concentrated on ‘bad job’ with low pay and poor working condition. As far as women are concerned, the key of job problem is ‘gender discrimination’ throughout the whole process from recruitment, placement, promotion, and to retirement. Therefore, it should be prioritized to eliminate discrimination against women through rectifying gender discrimination at employment, not through ‘a target customized policy’.  But the announced <5 year job policy roadmap> doesn’t present any plan on this. It is irony that there is no gender equality on policy of government that the president promises to be a feminist. The government must establish gender equality labor policy based on gender equal philosophy!!!

2017. 10. 23

Korean Women Workers Association

The hope of Yellow Apron, Not 'market vitalization' but 'people' is the first! Hold a joint press conference to table a bill of 'domestic worker respect Act'.

KWWA and NHMC, together with a member of National Assembly, Lee Jeong Mi, has had a joint press conference to table a bill to improve the employment of domestic workers at Jeong Lon Gwan at National Assembly on 26th.

Lee Jeong Mi(Justice party, a member of Environment and Labor Committee) announced "table a bill 「Act for respect on domestic workers」(Act on improvement of employment of domestic workers) in order to protect the labor right of domestic workers and promote public vitalization of domestic service industry” at the conference.   

At the conference, 10 delegates in yellow aprons stepped on the platform with hand placard stating key provisions of 「Act for respect on domestic workers」. The 10 delegates are heads of 5 regional branches of NHMC(Lee Jin Sim, president of NHMC·head of Seoul branch, Shim Ok Seob, head of Incheon branch, Kim Yeon Ja, head of Bucheon branch, Kim Jae Soon, head of Ansan branch, Yoon Hyeon Mi, head of Suwon branch), domestic workers, chair of KWWA(Yim Yoon ok), Seoul branch chair of KWWA(Son Young Joo), Incheon branch chair of KWWA(Park Myeong Sook), Suwon branch chair of KWWA(Kim Kyeong Hee).  

ILO adopted the ‘Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers’ (Convention on Domestic Workers) in 2011 and has been requesting its member states to recognize the labor status of domestic workers whose number around the world reaches 100 millions. Also, last January, National Human Right Commission of Korea recommended △provide standardized contract form to protect working condition, △produce and provide customer manual to protect human rights △application of unemployment insurance and industrial accident compensation insurance △ratification of ILO convention on domestic workers and elimination of Article 11 of Labor Standard Act which excludes domestic workers from its application.

In line with the recommendation, the bill proposed by Rep. Lee includes, apart from eradication of unfair treatment to domestic workers, ▲promotion and support of public agency to offer decent job for domestic workers and good domestic service, ▲provide domestic service to vulnerable social group such as single parent household, low income two earner household, ▲guarantee minimum 15hour working per week for domestic workers to secure rights by Labor Standard Act. such as annual leave and weekly holiday and to join social security.

Rep. Lee Jeong mi addressed “as a cook at school is not a Ajumma to cook, domestic workers are not helper ajummas” and promised “to make every effort to procure the passage of the act for new Republic of Korea where labor is dignified and any labor of no one is not ignored.”

 “Act for respect on domestic workers” is to put ‘people’ on priority, not for ‘market vitalization’!

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."