In 2009, we at the KWWA filed an administrative lawsuit against the Ministry of Public Administration and Security for denying its stopping funds to the NGOs having joined candlelight protests. In January 2010, KWWA failed at the first trial, but we won the case at the high court in past July and supreme court in November. As a part of resisting the repressive government's attempt to suppress NGOs, our case is expected to impact other similar cases.

On past November 30, we at the KWWA organized a forum entitled 'Korean Women in their 20s Cried out for Survival, '"Let me in!"' In the forum, a survey result on female youth's work and lives was presented. The research was conducted between past August and October, Kim-Shin Hye-jung, head of the Education Dept., and a women researcher, Yeo Myunghee summarized quantitative research outcomes and qualitative results, respectively. Panels consisting of Jo Keumdeuk, secretary-general, Youth Union, Park Hongju, a womanist researcher, Kim Soohyun, researcher of Saesayon , Lim Youngmi, head of Dept. of Women Workforce Development Under the Ministry of Women and Family, shared a great time to exchange their views on the survey results and discuss future tasks.

Those who are addressed as housekeepers, domestic helpers, or aunties, came out on the street.

“Please address me as a house manager not a housekeeper.”

“Auntie No, House Manager OK”

“A house manager is a professional woman.”

With pickets prepared carefully, they stood imposingly in front of people, even though they felt a bit shy.

They are housekeeping service workers taking care of housework and caring what is considered as unpaid house work. As a vacuum in housekeeping and caring at home has been made because of increasing economic activities of women, our rapid aging society, and change in family patterns, they fill up the vacuum. There are 160,000 housekeeping service workers as of 2007 according to the Economically Active Population Survey of the National Statistical Office. However, their actual number is probably much higher than 160,000 if we consider the number of housekeeping and caring service workers in the informal sector which does not show up in statistics.

Even though there are a fair number of housekeeping and caring service workers, they are still considered as insignificant domestic helpers doing housework in the society rather than professional workers. Such a social cognition is often reflected in dramas that they are addressed as housekeepers, domestic helpers, aunties, etc. or treated disrespectfully.

Therefore, the National Cooperative of House Managers (NCHM) which is an organization of housekeeping service workers directly concerned, has been conducting simultaneous campaigns across the country for improving the social cognition of housekeeping service workers from June 5 to July 7.

“We work hard with pride as we support economically active women or families who need housekeeping service and take care of clients’ well-being. However, a low social cognition (housekeeper, domestic helper, insignificant work, embarrassing work, etc.) of our service makes us feel uncomfortable and conceal our occupation. Nonetheless, housekeeping and caring service is already an essential profession in this society because of increasing economic activities of women, the problem of childcare and the aged, and so on. Folks, we are not mere housekeepers or aunties. We are professional house managers. We want to work proudly in the social environment respecting our occupation.” – Excerpt from the campaign of the NCHM Masan-Changwon Branch

Housekeeping workers across the country speak out loudly with one voice and say, “We are professional workers. We have completed the professional training and provide systematic housekeeping and care services. Please address us as house managers not aunties.”

Introduction of the NCHM

 The KWWA established the NCHM as a community of professional house managers for expanding women’s jobs. In the situation that most middle-aged women had difficulty in finding jobs due to polarization in the labor market and they were employed in the informal sector such as housekeeping services, the KWWA judged the necessity to develop services of middle-aged women professionally for their financial independence, and then organized the NCHM as a nationwide organization in November 2004. Currently, the NCHM has about 700 members with 11 branches in Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Bucheon, Ansan, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeonju, Masan-Changwon, and Suwon.

‘We, care workers are also workers. Apply the Labor Standard Law to us!'

‘Ensure employment insurance and workers' compensation for care workers!'

On past October 30, approximately 300 care workers held a Care Women Workers' Rally in the central Seoul to raise their voices, demanding to 'Apply the Labor Standard Law to care workers' and 'Guarantee Employment Insurance and Workers' Compensation.' The rally was held on the theme of 'To create care labor environment in which the government takes responsibility and the society respects,' by the KWWA and National Cooperative of House Managers (NCHM), and sponsored by Korean Care workers NGO Network.

In the rally, Kim Sanghee, a congress person of Democratic Party had an address, promising that she would work hard to help the Care Workers Act be passed in the National Assembly, and members of NCHM handed in their postcards to her, to send them to parliamentary committee members on environment and labor issues.

In the rally, a member from Incheon confessed her difficulties: 'although she had an operation on her knee, she had to return to work before the stitches were taken out because the operation cost was too high to her.' She called for the immediate application of employment insurance and workers' compensation.

Each regional branch of KWWA prepared an performance such as traditional beggar's song, dances and songs so that our members were overwhelmed with mirth. In addition, Ryoo Keumshin, a popular singer sang for our members in the rally. Moreover, 'E-oollung' a Korean traditional musical instrument band belonging to Inha University branch of the KWTU had a traditional parade, Kilnori and initiated traditional collective games, Daedongnori.

The amendment of Care Workers Act was prepared jointly by the office of Rep. Kim Sanghee and Korean Care workers NGO Network, and brought in the National Assembly on September 1, 2011.

'The 2nd Low-birth and Aging Society Basic Scheme' that the government announced in past September, was confirmed in a Cabinet meeting on October 26. On that day, we at the KWWA, opposition parties, women, labor and/ or civil NGOs pointed out the government's impractical reality-blind countermeasures to low-birth rates.

The government's representative countermeasures to Korean low-birth rates for promoting balances between family matters and jobs are to ensure parental leaves at a fixed rate of 40% and paid 3 day partner leaves, to spread flexible working hour systems, and to introduce self-regulating childcare centers. However, these policies are just nominal and blind to most women's situations. These policies do not reflect irregular women workers accounting for 70% out of all working women, and what is worse is that the policies try to form incompatibility amongst working women and worsen discrimination against irregular women workers. Further, for sure, we believe the introduction of self-regulating childcare centers will double childcaring burden on parents and accelerate socio-economic polarization because childcare services are in cruel hand of the market.

We believe the government should make policies preventing women from being dismissed because of their pregnancies and child birth, and those encouraging men to participating in childcare. According to a recent survey, 71% of Korean women stop working after their child births, and working moms view personnel disadvantages against them due to their pregnancies and child birth as the hardest things.

In conclusion, enterprise environment and social environments in our society are not adequate and sufficient enough to help people to balance their jobs and family matters. In other words, the discriminatory and inhumane corporate practices should be improved to ensure all working women can take maternity leaves without fear, and the government should take practical and feasible policies for working women.

Moreover, the present parental leave system should be largely enhanced. The present system has so many limitations that the rate of income substitution is very low and male workers have a low partner leave of 1.4%. Wages should be guaranteed at higher levels than the minimum wage, in order that an increasing number of workers can take parental leaves, and drastic steps are needed for a higher number of male workers to take partner leaves. For this, ▲ policies to encourage women's employment during the periods of their pregnancies and child birth ▲ steps to ensure employment, not the expansion of the flexible labor, are needed, and further, ▲ the scheme of 'self-regulating childcare centers' should be withheld because it burdens parents, and national and public childcare facilities should be increased.

Past September 13, we at the KWWA held a 'Workshop for seeking for alternatives to low births and for balancing family matters and women's jobs through examining women's broken careers.' It aimed to have better understanding of Korean women's broken careers and make practical and feasible policy suggestions for Korean women.

In order to grasp the situations and states of women's broken careers, we at the KWWA conducted a survey targeting 1,181 women who have children aged less than 10 years old. We found those who have experienced job changes accounted for 80% out of the total respondents: specifically, 71% who answered they had to stop working due to child birth, and 8.9% who had to change their jobs. It shows child birth is the major cause of women's broken careers. Especially, regular women workers form 62.9% before their child deliveries, but only 28.5% of women who have babies can work as regular workers when they are re-employed after their child birth, which means Korean women's broken careers and irregularization mainly resulted from child delivery. In addition, it was found that only 10% of irregular workers took maternity leaves, which demonstrates irregular workers have more serious broken careers than regular women workers do. That is to say, we found that irregular workers' pregnancy and baby birth have crucial influences on Korean women's broken careers and re-employment types.

In the workshop, presented was in-depth interview results regarding restrictions on balancing family matters and jobs, targeting men and women in their 30s. In reality, uncertainty has been increasing and it was found so difficult for those women who are university graduates wanting to be re-employed to re-enter the labor market, and further, women's jobs are mostly irregularized and casualized due to the distorted market structure in which young women are preferred and women have to retire from their jobs because of their pregnancies. The stereotype on gender division of work and long working hours force men to give up their participation in caring children, which is very stressful and burdensome to Korean women, since women have to take care of house work, childcare and their jobs, as well. Male interviewees in their 30s and 40s taking part in the in-depth interviews attributed their difficulties in balancing the two matters to Korean Confucianism-based work culture including heavy workloads, long working hours, strict job hierarchy, widely spread job insecurity amongst workers, and only success-oriented culture. They emphasized that people's minds should be changed to encourage men to care for their jobs and children, both, and Korean job culture should also be improved in order to ensure proper and punctual working hours and help men enjoy time with their family, through the introduction of various support systems.

Between August 19 and 20, 2010, we, 100 KWWA and KWTU activists had a joint membership training, entitled '2010 Joyful Meeting and Exhilarating Communication' in the North Choongchoeng Province. KWWA and KWTU, sister organizations had had a joint membership training every year until 2008 when the training was changed every two year.

Above all, Kim Ki-sik, chairperson of the Policy Planning Committee, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy gave a lecture on the theme of 'Korean Politics Today, New Political Visions.' Through the lecture, we at the KWWA and the KWTU had a good time to look back our busy and breathtaking local election activities and think over post-the election Korean politics.

Next, we also had a chance to look at social network programs in order to find ways to have more friendly and better communication with the public. It was really great time for our activists living in the web2.0 era to become far more concerned for how to wage our campaigns and activities and communicate with people, and to change the ways we think.

After dinner, we arranged our time to listen up our 5 senior and junior activists: 'Best Choices and Worst Choices as Activists.' In the talk with the activists, we were happy and empathic enough to share their agonies and troubles. On the last day, we had a variety of programs such as 'hiking,' 'making organic cosmetics,' 'learning to dance like singers on TV,' 'Yoga meditation,' and 'picture taking lessons' so as to get relaxed from our daily lives.

Between July 17 and 18, an integrated membership training for our executives was held in Anmyon-do island.

On the title of "Requirement of Executives: Joyful Participation and Thrilling Changes!" about 180 staff persons from 11 branches and KWWA’s annexed organizations took part in the membership training, whose number of participants was growing more this time than that in last year. This was a major venue for becoming re-born as strong and competent women and executives, as well as for looking back the local election campaign processes and looking at practical future tasks.

After Jeong Moon Ja,  representative of the KWWA delivered a lecture on the theme of 'the Local Election and Post-political Situation,' members from Pucheon and Pusan had presentations about their activities during the local election. We at the KWWA and its regional branches also listened to the second lecture entitled 'Firm Life As a Woman' addressed by Choi Kwanggi, an explosively popular MC in Korea. There were so enthusiastic responses to her lecture that we couldn't stop smiling and laughing, but it also made us think over. After dinner, a program entitled 'Express with Your Body' was undertaken: our participants from each region had to choose one topic out of the two, 'Local Election Activities' and 'Live Firmly As a Woman', and then express it with their bodies through singing, dancing and carrying out performances. One is as good as the other, but AWWA received the first prize, M-CWWA was in the second place, and IWWA came third. In addition, on the photo shot display for proving our voting activity in the local election, GWWA was in the first place.

On the next day we had a field day at the beach.  Since waves were high and the beach has relatively scarce sand field, it was difficult to do physical activities at first, but in the afternoon we were able to play games such as 'carrying water,' 'relays,' and 'knee-wrestling matches' because water flew away with time. After the passionate field day, their glory was returned to M-CWWA, KJWWA and North Cholla WWA came second, and AWWA and GWWA gained the bronze medals. We had a so relaxing time to play different games such riding surfs.

“Sorry, mom and dad. I wouldn't live for making a lot of money through working at a big company."

“I hope I can change even a little bit. I have been losing hopes and trying just to accept my reality."

“I hope I can find what I really wish. I hope I can have peaceful mind, not being a slave to the word, 'employment'!"

(opinions of some participants in the Youth Hope Academy)

Youth Hope Academy was held every Thursday evening between May 6 and June 10, under the flag of 'Joyful Imagination, Thrilling Changes!'. It was the first education program for women youth that we at the KWWA have endeavored to organize. We organized this program for youth who are considered to be synonyms of uncertainty and dispair in Korea today. In particular, we focused on 'daily things related to foods and living' which is the biggest concerns for Korean youth, and we also explored alternative ways, including ways to enhance their independence and to balance co-existence and mutual aids.

We at the KWWA planned and included a special lecture regarding 'Hope' which was delivered by Jo-Han He-jung, a professor of Yonsei University, a lecture on alternative social economy such as social enterprises, lectures for sharing specializing in and exploring youth's social enterprises and community case studies. We also provided a variety of programs including women's discourse lecture, joyful bull sessions amongst leading youth representatives, and a vision-making workshop.

A Proclamation of 591 Social Leaders Urging the Samsung Electronics to Take the Responsibility of Laborers’ Occupational Disease

“No More Victims in the Samsung Electronics”

In 2003, Yoo-Mee Hwang, a third-year student at Sokcho High School, was employed just before her graduation at the Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Plant in Giheung. She participated in the defusion process dipping wafer - a thin slice of semiconductor material - into compounds such as hydrogen peroxide and ammonium sulfide. Ji-Youn Park was also employed at Samsung Semiconductor Plant in Onyang. Unable to proceed with her study in college, she had no choice but to start working prior to high school graduation. This eighteen-year-old girl worked in the examination process handling lead solvent and other chemicals. Their pride of working in a leading corporation in South Korea withered away very soon. Both of these young girls got Acute Myeloid Leukemia after two years of work in the corporation and passed away in 2007 and 2010.

While South Korea’s gross national income per capita exceeded 20,000 U.S. dollars in 2007, adolescents from poor families are still under pressure of getting a job soon after mid-school or high-school graduation. Shoe and clothing industries in 1970s have changed into high-tech clean industries such as semiconductor and LCD, but laborers are still in danger of death from hundreds of toxic chemicals used in IT products.

Several years have passed since the laborers working at the Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Plants in Giheung and Onyang became victims of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Nothing has been done, however, for their industrial injury treatment and compensation. The danger of working in these high-tech industries has increasingly been revealed after the continuing social exposure of the deaths of the Samsung Electronics’ laborers. According to the Supporters of Health and Rights of People in Semiconductor Industry (SHARPS), over 100 laborers got lethal disease including leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumor and 31 have already passed away. Although a further systematic examination is needed for confirming the causes of these deaths, this approximate number of victims in a single corporation is already an alarming signal to the society.

Afraid of harming its image, Samsung has denied its responsibility and rejected to provide injury compensation for its laborers. The governmental branches under charge of industrial safety and accidents such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and the Korean Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service are putting emphasis on industrial security over laborers’ rights. As the Samsung Electronics and the South Korean government shirk their responsibilities and as our society disregard the people who actually make the fascinating smart phone and maintain high speed internet, the laborers who devoted their lives to the Samsung Electronics are taking occupational disease and passing away without proper treatment.

Will we keep disregarding these laborers of the Samsung Electronics who are lack of time and energy? In order to resolve this problem in regard to occupational disease, we urge the Samsung Electronics, the government, and the National Assembly to do the following:

First, Samsung should admit its responsibility of the laborers’ occupational disease and do its best to solve the problem.

Samsung is the leading corporation in semiconductor industry, occupying 35% in the DRAM semiconductor world market and exceeding 5 trillion won in the second quarter of this year. Samsung’s attitude toward this case of occupational disease, however, is very disappointing. It is obvious that laborers in semiconductor industry handle toxic chemicals and that they are able to accidently be exposed to those chemicals. Samsung has ignored this obvious fact, only caring for its faultless image. Samsung has neglected its suffering laborers and preventing them from receiving industrial injury compensation from the government.

Instead of concealing the case, Samsung should take the responsibility of its victims. The first step is to admit that the suffering laborers as the victims of occupational disease.

Second, the government should confirm the diseases as industrial accidents, conduct a reliable and systematic examination, and take charge of revising the relevant legislations.

While 16 Samsung laborers suffering from occupational disease have applied for industrial accident by now, 10 cases have been disapproved by the government and 6 are still pending. While the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance aims at protecting laborers by immediately compensating for laborers’ industrial accident, the government is asking for a clearer scientific causal relation from the victims who do not even have information accessibility. Furthermore, it is revealed in a recent inspection of the administration affairs that the government took allowed the Samsung Electronics to actively participate in the administrative lawsuit filed by the laborers. Now it is confusing whether the government serves for employees’ welfare or Samsung’s welfare.

Doing its duty to protect laborers’ life and health, the government should admit the suffering laborers as victims of industrial accident. In order to serve the purpose of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance, the government should revise the legislations related to industrial safety and accident and relax the responsibility of the victims to provide scientific evidence in support of occupational disease.

Third, the National Assembly should force the government to conduct a reliable examination and revise the legislations related to industrial accident and chemical management.

In the most recent inspection of the administration affairs, both governing and opposition parties urged the government to solve the case of Samsung laborers’ occupational disease. While there has been a single examination from the government, however, it was suspicious in terms of impartiality and reliability. The current examination conducted by Samsung itself is also far from being impartial.

Accordingly, both governing and opposition parties in the National Assembly should collaborate with each other to conduct a reliable examination at the national-level. In addition, both parties should immediately revise the legislations related to industrial accident and chemical management and provide a prompt and impartial protection for the laborers suffering from industrial accidents.

December 21, 2010

Best,

591 Social Leaders;

- 88 Health and Medical practitioner

- 159 Legal Experts

- 33 Professors

- 65 Writers

- 3 Religious Leaders

- 45 Human Rights Movement Leaders

- 37 Women Rights Movement Leaders

- 64 Labor Movement Leaders

- 87 Civil Society Campaign Leaders

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