- We demand for regularization of workers from large corporations with financial base and public sector!



Today, we remember women workers in the U.S. who marched demanding for the suffrage and bread 107 years ago. To celebrate the international women's day, which inherits the spirit of these women workers' struggles and pledges for political freedom and equality for women, today in 2015 we declare women workers' requests.

 

 Today, 56.11% of 8 millions of women workers in Korea, which are about four-million-and fifty-hundreds of thousands of women workers, are irregular workers. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women advised South Korea to reduce the number of women irregular workers as it is excessively large now. Also, South Korea, among OECD countries, has topped with its biggest wage gap between men and women. Therefore, today's statement to remember and to inherit the struggle for freedom and equality for women is all about irregular women workers. Because, the very key in resolving the issue of discrimination against women workers is to address the issue of discrimination against irregular workers . Hence, discussion on irregular workers must be based on irregular workers' and women workers' perspectives.

 

 Yet when you look at the government's Comprehensive Alternatives for Irregular Work, you can hardly find any alternatives to address the issues of irregular workers, but you will find that it is all about making lay-off more flexible and restructuring regular workers' wages. How could it be alternatives, if it lacks discussions on women and irregular workers?

 

 This is not so different in the Flextime Employment policy, which is promoted by the government. This policy does not create more jobs, yet it converts 8-hours regular jobs into part-time jobs, degrading the working conditions, as well as the wages. This Flextime policy targets women, operating as a mechanism that lowers the quality of women workers' working conditions. In the public sector, the 8-hours work of in-home nurses was converted into part-time jobs. Cleaning workers in the Songdo residence of Yeonsei University were forced to choose either being fired or changing their employment into part-time, so they are still struggling. Looking at the statistics, 10.8% of total workers in Korea are part-time workers, and women account for 71.1% of the. When we say the hourly wage of regular workers is 100, irregular workers' wage is only 48; only 19.5% of irregular workers are covered by the employment insurance, and 13.1% of them receive retirement pay.

 

 Public sector, which is supposed to be a good model, is not so different. There are 470,000 of irregular workers in the public sector; 130,000 of them are receiving less than the minimum wages. They are supposed to be converted into regular workers after two years of employment as irregular workers in the public sector, 185,878 irregular workers, which correspond to 73.8% of the eligible irregular workers, were not converted in 2013.

 

 In addition, people think that small and medium size corporations hire irregular workers due to their weak financial base, yet the 10 largest corporations in the country hire 440,000 of irregular workers, which accounts for 36.3% of total irregular workers in the country. Is not the social responsibility of big corporations with strong financial base that they show good examples of addressing issues in irregular work ?

 

 It is estimated that more than two millions of workers are under indirect employment now. The only legal protection for these workers for now, however, is the dispatched work act. Recently we see more conflicts around the indirect employment. Without any legal alternatives, these workers are being forced to accept lay-off or degrading working conditions.

 

 Today, the majority of people in our society are struggling to manage their lives. It is especially true for working women. Solving the problem of social bi-polarization, which is the biggest issue of our society today, is especially necessary when times are rough. In this difficult times, we need to develop alternatives and change the reality step by step.


 Today, celebrating the international women's day, we want to emphasize  in this statement that  we contribute to solving the problem of the social bi-polarization by improving the quality of lives of women workers. Wishing that the government , politicians, and everyone can think about the lives of 8 millions of women workers in March, we declare women workers' 7 requests. 



7 request from women workers in 2015.

Develop a comprehensive solutions to improve the quality of employment of 4500,000 irregular women workers!

Second, convert all irregular workers in public sectors into regular workers and employ those indirectly-employed workers directly!

Third, the biggest 10 corporations should develop a good model of the labor market that addresses the issue of 440,000 irregular workers they are hiring!

Fourth, abolish the Flextime employment policy, which focuses on the quantity of the jobs only, and establish new policies for quality jobs for women!

Fifth, raise the minimum wage substantially to guarantee the security of lives of working poor women!

Sixth, legislate the law that clarifies legal responsibility for indirectly employed workers!

Seventh, legislate the law for workers under special employment that obliges to join the occupational health and safety insurance and employment insurance!

 

 

March 6th, 2015.


Korean Women's Trade UnionKorean Women Workers AssociationActivists in the 70s (Kwon Soon-Gab, Kim Ji-Sun, Maria Lee, Lee Chong-Gak, Jung Sun-Soon, Cho Ok-Hwa, Choi Soon-Young)


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