[vol.21] Declaration for establishing the Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Women Workers' RightsDeclration for

Declaration for establishing the Action Center
for Obtaining Irregular Women Workers' Rights

1. We declare the establishment of the Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Working Women's Rights (ACOIWWR), in celebration of International women's day in the new millennium.

For last ten years, an increasing number of women workers have entered the labor market, as temporary workers and wage workers and they work in the informal sector. Among the total number of women workers, 64% of women work at companies with less than five workers, and 70% of women are temporary and day workers.

There has been a steady decrease in the number of women workers' union members due to the worsening employment situation for women workers and the change in the employment structure.

In particular, the last three years because of the Korean economic crisis, women have experienced all sorts of illegal labor practices and worsening working conditions, under the pretext of strengthening Korean companies' competitiveness: they are reallocated from regular workers to temporary and/or day workers, and they are forcibly transferred to dispatched workers status.

Today, we declare women workers' rights in celebration of international women's day in the year 2000. We firmly declare that this is the issue for all women and that we pursue the way for uniting women workers and obtaining their rights.

In addition, we declare that the development of women's potential and the achievement of employment security is the way to encourage women, half of the world's population, to be a main force to develop Korean society in the 21th century.

2. ACOIWWR will take action to implement labor related laws in the workplace.

According to the law, all workers should be protected and treated equally regardless of their different employment status. Nevertheless, up to 70% of irregular women workers are not actually protected. Further, it is regarded as natural for these irregular workers to receive unequal treatment.

According to the Current Situation to What Extent the Labor Standard Law is applied in the Companies with Less Than 4 Workers, published by the Korean Women's Trade Union and the KWWAU in November 1999, only one-thirds of the companies that answered follow the Labor Standard Law.

We found the ACOIWWR to change this reality by our efforts. We will give information to all women workers and give advice and aid to the workers where they are needed, and we will struggle against illegal labor practices.

Additionally, the ACOIWWR will demand the Ministry of Labor and the authorities concerned to monitor labor related laws in the workplace. Labor laws are not followed in the workplace, because the authorities concerned have not functioned properly.

3. The ACOIWWR will fight for the situation in which all working women can freely join unions and they can be protected and covered by the Labor Standard Law and the four(4) social security insurances.

Since the 1980s, the sector where an increasing number of women have been employed, women workers have not been able to obtain their proper rights to work. Examples are women workers who are involved as study-book teachers, golf caddies, saleswomen of insurance companies, and women who are engaged in delivery and/or sales.

Actually they are workers who have been directly employed by companies, but since 1987 when the workers' mass struggles took place, flexibility in the labor market has increased and subtle and distorting tactics of employment have been employed to destroy the labor union movement: actually workers work with the seeming position of the self-employed.

Although they are workers who are subordinate in terms of employment relations and administration relations, their basic rights as workers have not been recognized, so deep tensions are always there.

In addition, in the case of home-based workers, because their employment relations are very unclear, they are excluded from the Labor Standard Law.

We will struggle for women workers' unity, for workers to be organized into unions and all working women to be enjoy the Labor Standard Law and four Korean social security insurances.

4. The ACOIWWR will carry out campaigns of changing laws and wage solidarity activities to improve working conditions for irregular workers.

We will carry out campaigns for preparing for regulations to prevent the number of irregular workers from being expanded. Irregular workers have same hours and have similar tasks, but they work on acontractual basis.

They are discriminated against because they work on a variety of employment bases such as dispatched workers, part-time workers, and day workers. We will fight to obtain legal protection for these nominal irregular workers.

In addition, We will also fight against illegal and unfair labor practice where workers are forcibly relocated as dispatched workers belonging to manpower companies.

The ACOIWWR will carry out our struggles in solidarity with other trade unions, women's organizations and other labor organizations to obtain proper rights for irregular workers and to change existing laws.

In addition, We will campaign in the World March against Poverty and Violence against women with other women around the world for the celebration of international women's day in the year of 2000.

dated March 5, 20000

Action Center for Obtaining Irregular Working Women's Rights
(Seoul, Pusan, Daegu, Kwangju, Inchon, Masan and Changwon, Iksan and Chonju, Ansan, and Pucheon)

We make the following resolutions: 1. We will know our legal rights and follow them in practice.
2. We will put our interests in others' working conditions and do our best to give information to them.
3. We will let others know about the ACOIWWR and help others to participate.
4. We will take part in the ACOIWWR's activities at least one a month.
5. We will take action with the ACOIWWR.
6. We will check our activities as a member of the ACOIWWR every month.

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Korea Working Women's Network 2000