[vol.8] Voices from the Field_Labour working in small companies with less than five people should be protected fully by the Standard Labour Law and Industrial Accident compensation Insurance law.
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 2. 1. 18:28Whang, Hyun Suk(Seoul Women Workers Association)
At this point of time, laborers working in small businesses with less than five people are understood to be numbered at more than a million. Of special note, according to 1992 statistics, 62.7% of female labor is working in such businesses.
A great number of these laborers working in small businesses are still not covered by the Standard Labor Law and Industrial accident compensation insurance law.
Although the National Assembly revised these laws to be applied to all businesses seven years ago, the Office of Labor Affairs has not yet revised the enforcement ordinance which states that only some small businesses must comply with these laws which is very difficult to understand.
We work for long hours in fear of sudden dismissal and receive no benefits like retirement funds, annual vacation, menstrual leave, maternity leave, workers' compensation.
Further we face problems due to being unprotected by the Equal Employment Law because this law only applies in the business where the Standard Labor Law and Industrial accident compensation insurance law is applied.
For these reasons, labor, citizen's and social groups united to form a joint struggle countermeasure committee to revise the enforcement ordinance so that the above two laws can also be applied in small businesses.
After the establishment of the joint struggle countermeasure committee, various activities have been carried out such as twice holding campaign and petition activities, advertising in a concentrated area of small businesses, denouncing the head of the Office of Labor Affairs for failing to carry out his duties properly, holding an assembly opposing the Office of Labor Affairs, and carrying out investigations into actual working areas.
These activities have also been reported on the TV program "PD Memo" and these serious problems in small businesses have gained the sympathy of many workers and citizens. As a result of these activities carried out by the joint struggle countermeasure committee, the government announced that the two laws would be applied to small businesses after the general election.
However it is quite disappointing since they will first apply these laws only in manufacturingbusinesses so in order to extend them into all business areas, we are continuing our action. The organization for Seoul Women's Labor is participating in the joint struggle countermeasure committee for the sake of the great number of female laborers in small businesses, to make sure that their working environment improves from the current situation in which their most basic rights are not protected.