[vol.3] [Struggles in the Workplace] 1. The United Strength of Married Women Workers
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 1. 30. 15:55The 1994 Wage increase Struggle at Korean Citizen
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.