International Solidarity
Report on the exchange program with Thailand and Indonesia
Jin Young Park (Research Officer, KWWAU)
There was an exchange program which gave us a great opportunity to share with our friends from other countries. It has been a fruitful, wonderful, and helpful experiences for our fellow women workers in Korea.
Since there is almost no chance for women workers to travel other countries, it was a good opportunity for them to meet foreign friends who could share similar problems and different experiences.
We were very happy to have our friends from Indonesia and Thailand. We had Ayuni, Rosmawaty Situmotang, Tati, Choirul Mahpuduah, and Tonilah from Indonesia and Prangtip and Yaowapa from Thailand for the program.
Even though we are different in many ways, we could confirm that we all are journeying on the same path towards the same goal. Their visit was another way to encourage our Korean women workers to feel international unity. Everyday the exchange program was full of sharing, unity, solidarity, and grateful joys.
Here we summarize what we did during the program day by day.
September 6, 1999
Though our friends went to bed very late, we all were in time to meet in the lobby of the hotel, where they were staying. We started by driving to Otnuri in Inchon.
The Otnuri is a production community which was formed by labor activists in Inchon. In the middle of the 80s, the sewing industry, which showed signs of prosperity before, was declining and most of the factories diminished their size.
The labor activists were trying to organize local unions at that time. However, they were already on the black list so that it was hard for them to make approaches to the workers and to get a job. The married women were having harder time to get a job due to their marital status.
<-- otron workers protesting against unjust dismissal in their camp> Under this background, the Otnuri was formed in order to be self-reliant and to take part in labor implementation. Their purpose was to organize workers gradually. Around ten thirty in the morning, we arrived at the Otnuri factory.
Workers were busy doing their work. Some were cutting cloth, some were working with sewing machines, some were ironing......
Our delegates observed carefully with much interest. We had a talk with the Chairwoman Mi Sook Lee from eleven to one o'clock. The delegates asked about the background of the Otnuri, the operation system of it, the working condition of the workplace, etc..
They were particularly interested in the criteria of membership, the size of income, and the way to share the profits. After lunch, we had exposure to the industrial complex in Namdong of Inchon, then moved to another industrial complex in Guro of Seoul.
We had the Chairwoman Seok Hee Jang of Seoul Women Workers Association, who worked in the Guro industrial complex for a long time, as a guide. Guro industrial complex has an important historical background.
In the 60s and 70s, people were totally repressed. At the end of the 80s, the people rose up against the dictatorship. At the peak of the peoples' protest, there was a struggle of the workers, who were exploited under the theory of economic development.
One of the starting places of the struggle was the solidarity struggle of Guro. It was the historical event which succeeded to make up widely united workers' struggle participated in by various workplace units.
Due to the change of the industrial structure in Korea, the manufacturing factories have been diminished in this area, and a number of distribution industries and big stores have occupied the area.
Therefore the number of manufacturing workers have been largely decreased. The main street of Guro, which was the main street of the protest demonstration, is now full of pops, restaurants, and stores.
In spite of the changes, the workers are continuing their struggle. We met the women workers, who were on protest demonstration in front of the local Labor hall. The Otron is a Hanhwa affiliated firm and the company dismissed them in an unjust manner. The workers brought the case to the local labor office.
The officers of the office were invited by the employer of the company and the employer entertained them. The workers set some tents in front of the hall and the Otron factory for a long term protest demonstration.
After the working time, the workers who took disciplinary action joined with the protesting workers. We also joined the protest demonstration and Nilh, the chairperson of Regional Trade Union from Indonesia, made a statement.
In her statement, she expressed, "The situation of the workers in every country is quite similar, and we can get through the difficulties by struggle. In this regard, international solidarity is necessary." Afterwards, we visited to the Seoul Women Workers' Association and toured the Children Care Center and After School Class that were run by SWWA.
September 7, 1999
On the second day of the exchange program, we flew to Pusan.The chairwoman of Masan & Changwon Women Workers Association welcomed us at the airport. We drove to Masan and had a lunch there.
After lunch, we spent one and half hours in their office to hear about the operation of the children care center. Afterwards we visited to Sanken trade union and heard the situation of the union. The Sanken is a joint company of Korea and Japan. The company produce industrial springs and the majority of the workers are women.
<-- visit to child care center run by masan> The trade union was set up in 1986 and it was affiliated to the Metal Trade Union under the Korea Confederation of Trade Union. The number of the members has been gradually decreasing. It is because the company has set up the workplace in other countries in South-East Asia where the cost of labor is relatively cheaper than Korea. And the newly employed workers are reluctant to join the union.
However, the commitment of the union members is very strong and even non-union members still have much interest in the union.
September 8, 1999
We started with the brief explanation by the vice director of "The house of Working Women" on the works of the House.
The House of Working Women was established in 1997 supported by the Ministry of Labor. The House has been conducting vocational training courses, information service for recruiting, occupational counseling, etc.
The House is running a children care center. As a result, the women workers, who have gone through the total helpers' training course, have formed a total helpers' association and actively implemented their works.
After the brief explanation, we visited different classes; the class for needlework, the class for hair dressing, and the class for computer. Myoung Hee Choi, who has committed herself to the labor movement for a long time in Pusan and now working as a counselor in the House, gave us an input on how has the situation of the women workers in Pusan and South Kyounsang areas changed in accordance with the change of the industrial structure.
The shoe industry, which was the leading industry in Pusan, was declining, and many workplaces have bankrupted, closed, or moved to other countries in South East Asia At the moment, most of the workplace for the shoe industry in these areas is small scale with less than five workers, and the workers' condition is getting worse.
The majority of the workers engaged in the shoe industry were women. After many of them lost their jobs, they were brought under the non economic population rather than being brought under the unemployed population.
Therefore society was not concerned with their unemployment problem. After hearing their story, our interest was then, "where are they and what are they doing?" Ms. Choi explained that most of them are working in the smaller subcontract factories or working in the service industry.
In the case of working in the service industry, their skills, that were developed for twenty years, are all useless now. Then, we toured the area, where there were shoe factories which are changed to lots of small subcontract factories now.
There were a huge Nike factory with over 20,000 workers and some other big shoe factories in that area. However, we could not find any memory of the area because the place was occupied by high apartments complex.
Next to the apartment zone, there are a number of small subcontract factories. We flew back to Seoul in order to meet the president of the Korean Women's Trade Union, Ms. Sang Lim Choi. The president Sang Lim Choi started her sharing by talking about the problem of hidden unemployed women including the disappointed unemployed women, the problem of irregular workers, who are recently increasing largely, and the present situation of the women workers in Korea.
The decreasing rate of the women union members is a result of the present situation, and at the same time, it causes the worsened situation of women workers. The existing trade union is more regular workers and men workers-oriented. It is hard for them to change their strategy which has alienated women workers.
Under this situation, the Korean Women's Trade Union has been established in order to seek for a new strategy to organize women workers.
September 9 -10, 1999
There was a workshop on the fourth and fifth days.
In the first workshop, Ms. Hae Soon Lee from the women's department of KCTU spoke on the influences of the economic crisis to the workers and the reaction of the trade union. The economic crisis made different influences in accordance with the scale of the workplace. The small workplace were mostly bankrupted or closed.
The big scale workplaces including financial companies had business restructure. Both have resulted in massive unemployment of women workers, more poverty, and transferring to irregular work. The economic crisis brought not only women's unemployment but the serious problem of unemployment in a society as a whole.
The KCTU organized two strikes against the economic restructure and has continued to demand the shortening the working time and the renovation of the big enterprises. On the second workshop, Ms. Sook Ja Kim, a child care activist, talked about the activation of the child care movement and how to establish and operate the child care center in Korea through the history of the child care movement.
It was the beginning of the 80s when the people began to talk about the child care facilities. It was the time when a number of the married women entered in to the labor market. The demands for the child care facilities widely increased.
Many women's organizations and religious organizations began to set up the facilities. Afterwards, the child care activists formed groups to take a role as a pressure group to government's policies. On the third workshop, we shared on the situation of the women workers in Korea and in Thailand and Indonesia.
On the fourth workshop, we shared on the influences of free trade to women workers. On the fifth workshop, Ms. Hae Ran Lee, the representative of Orum, a cultural group, talked about how to make use of culture in education for the women workers based on her experiences.
The women workers, who actually led the economic growth in the 60s and the 70s, have been suffering from low wage and long working hours. We have struggled for the improvement of the situation.
In these periods, the main role of the cultural movement was to expose the hidden facts. Through music, arts, drawings, dramas, etc., we tried to explore the angers and agonies of the women workers.
Now, we are living in a better political, social, and economic situation. However, the women workers are still suffering from low wage, long working hours, and various sexual discriminations. Under these circumstances, the present cultural movement is seeking for a new method to change the consciousness of the women workers in their daily living.
On the sixth workshop, we shared and talked about the methods to consolidate our solidarity, follow-up programs after the exchange program, and evaluation. After dinner, we went to Myongdong Cathedral, which is a symbolical place for the democratization movement in Korea. When we visited the Cathedral, catholic priests and faithful were having a hunger demonstration for the abolition of the National Security Law.
Many citizen's organizations also joined in the demonstration.
September 11, 1999
On the sixth day, we had a downtown tour in the morning. We went to a palace and some tourist streets. We had a very joyful and comfortable time.
In the afternoon, we attended the opening ceremony of Inchon KWTU. Afterwards, we went to the cafe, run by KWWAU. The cafe has been run by the KWWAU to create work for the unemployed female family heads and to raise funds for the KWWAU. In the evaluation, the participants gave very positive feedback on the whole program.
Particularly, the child care movement and cultural movement were evaluated so that our delegates could try to start in their countries. The delegates from Indonesia showed a deep concern towards the Korean Women's Trade Union and child care facilities.
They were inspired to plan for the establishment of the child care center in their country after coming back. Yaowapa from Thailand was very impressed by the demonstration in Guro area where the protesting workers set up a tent.
The delegates from Thailand had a deep impression with the educational programs and they were inspired to plan for the workers' cultural group back in their country. This exchange program was not simply for sharing of three countries' experiences but also for actualizing the experiences from other countries to their unique situation.
Particularly through deep and concrete study on the whole situation of one country, the workers from three different countries examined and studied on the more effective and concrete methodologies of proper activities.
-> Waving hands consolidating the international solidality of women workers (September 12,1999)
We have realized that we all are lacking in understanding of the IMF and Free Trade. The participants wanted the KWWAU to organize this type of workshop every two years in order to keep up.
Besides, it was pointed out that whole schedule was too tight due to too many programs and the language barrier. Since we had to spend double time for translation, we had to spend double time for every schedule.
Korea Working Women's Network 2000
Association was established on July 3, 1999 by one hundred members. In April, 1999, the Working Women's House held vocational training sessions for domestic helping work. The training participants continued to meet every month and they hit upon the idea of establishing the association. Twenty members formed the preparatory committee of the association. The committee members met at night because they had to work during the daytime. Even though they were very tired they were happy and enthusiastic to work at night for the establishment of the association. They had to make lots of phone calls and even suffered sore throats due to talking so much on the phone. They held many discussions on the regulations and procedure of setting up the association. They also organized membership training. Their members are aged between 30 and 50. Finally they made their constitution.
≪-Ms. Kyoung Hyon Kim in her wheel chair (photo by Women's Newspaper)