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2002-10-28 13:44:46, 조회 : 46 |
Report on Exchange Programme with Indonesia & Thailand
"Your experiences turn to be my reality"
Jin Young Park, Research Officer
Korean Women Workers' Associations United
I. Background
There was an exchange program among three countries of Indonesia, Thailand, and Korea from September 6th to 11th for the women worker activists. We had Ayuni, Rosmawaty Situmotang, Tati, Choirul Mahpuduah, and Tonilah from Indonesia and Prangtip and Yaowapa from Thailand for the program. They are the activists working in their local union or other NGO in own countries. 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 an international unity. The program was composed of an exposure program and workship.
II. Exposure program
; The history of Korean labor movement and the field activities confronting with the changes
In the 60s and 70s, people were totally repressed. The consciousness of the people showed a new move of awakening in the 80s. At the end of 80s, the people rose up against the dictatorship. At the peak of peoples' protest, there was a struggle of the workers, who were exploited under the name of economic development. One of the starting stations of the struggle was the supporting struggle of Guro. Seok Hee Jang, the chairwoman of the Seoul Women Workers' Association, who has deeply committed herself for the workers' movement in Guro area, gave us a historical explanation of the area. Guro industrial complex has a long history of its struggle and the struggle in Guro area has an important meaning. The struggle in this area was the first historical struggle of the workers through united solidarity. However, there have been lots of changes in Guro area in the late 90s. 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 pubs, restaurants, and stores.
In spite of the changes, the workers are continuing their struggle. We could meet the women workers, who were on protest demonstration in front of the local office of Labor Ministry. They protested against the officers of the Labor Ministry, who had been half-hearted to solve the unjust case of Otron. 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 office 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 solidarity message. In her message, she expressed, "The situation of the workers in every country is quite similar, and we could get through the difficulties by struggle. In this regard, the international solidarity is necessary." After the visit to Guro Industrial Complex, we paid visits to the Free Trade Zone in Masan and the Shoe Industrial Complex in Pusan. Those tow zones are representing a typical result of the industrial restructure and its impact to the workers. In those areas, the manufacturing lines moved out to other third world countries. The visit to the Korean Sanken Trade Union in the Free Trade Zone of Masan gave us a chance to examine the present situation of the Free Trade Union. The Sanken company is a workplace running jointly by Japanese and Korean. The company produce industrial springs and the majority of the workers are women. The trade union was set up in 1986 and it has affiliated to the Metal Trade Union under the Korea Confederation of Trade Union. The membership was once over two hundred however, it is now about 80 only. The number of the members is 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.
Also in Pusan 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 where the labor wage is relatively cheaper. At the moment, the most of the workplace for the shoe industry in these areas is under the 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 bringing under the unemployed population. Therefore their unemployment problem was not concerned by the society but has been forgotten. After hearing about their story, our interest was then, "where are they and what are they doing?" Myoung Hee Choi, who has committed herself in the labor movement for a long time in Pusan and now working as a counselor in the House, 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. The whole area of Dang Gam-Dong, where were big shoe factories like Nike, was occupied by huge apartment complex. Here we could observe how the workers, particularly the women workers, have been changed along with the big change of industrial structure. There have been constant efforts to confront with the changes. One of the efforts should be the education and training. In order to be ready for the change, the women workers should be trained and educated. We visited to the "Working Women's House" in Pusan. The House was set up for the vocational training, counseling, job arrangements, and other various activities for the women workers. We walked around the house and were told about their various activities and programs. There was a day care center for the children whose mothers participate in the programs. The various programs have successfully encouraged and motivated women workers to be organized. The participants of the programs organized themselves, called "Helpers' Association". The delegates were interested in the amount of finance supported by the government, the relation with the government, and the concrete programs. Another way to deal with the change could be organizing a community of producers. The Otnuri is a production community which was formed by labor activists in Inchon. In the middle of 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 ate 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. Under this background, the Otnuri was formed in order to be self-reliant and to take parts in labor implementation. Their purpose was to organize workers gradually. The Chairwoman Mi Sook Lee answered zealously the questions about the background of the Otnuri, the operation system of it, the working condition of the workplace, etc.. The participants were particularly interested in the criteria of membership, the sum of income, and the way to share the profits.
Our delegates from other countries showed a special interest to the Women Workers' Associations in local and the Children Care Center run by the Working Women's House. The most difficult problem of the married women workers must be the problem of looking after their children. Unless the society as a whole is responsible for this matter, the women workers will meet obstacle at any time. Mee Hye Choi, the Chairwoman of Masan & Changwon Women Workers' Association explained well about the aims of running the Children Care Center. The Center helps more active participations of the women workers and provides better educational chances for the kids in terms of quality. The Children Care Center particularly run by the Working Women's House provides more opportunities to more women to have vocational training and to have more chances to find job. Our delegates were very interested in the process of the establishment, operating system, and concrete programs. There were a number of fruitful questions and answers.
III. Workshop
; Impact of the economic crisis towards women workers
The main theme of the workshop was the impact of the economic crisis in three countries of Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia and of the Free Trade towards the women workers in those three countries. On 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 of workplace including financial companies had business restructuring. Both have resulted massive unemployment of women workers, more poverty, and transferring to the irregular based workers. It is due to the situation that over 70% of the women workers are working in the small and poor workplace and the women workers are always prior to be dismissed under the difficult situation. 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 restructuring and has continued to demand for the shortening the working time and the renovation of the big enterprises.
In the case of Thailand, the economy grew well until the year of 1996. At that time, the women workers worked for twelve to sixteen hours a day, and the health was their essential problem always. However, from the second half of 1996, the dismissal became a hit issue in their society. The women workers and unskilled workers were prior to be dismissed. Particularly the women workers over 30 years old were targeted to be sacked. A number of factories shut down and the IMF was invited to intervene their economic problem. Big enterprieses sacked a number of their employees and forced them to return their bonus through the restructure program. The most of the dismissed women workers were engaged in the electronics or textiles where they did not have any chance to develop own skills. The number of the employed workers in 1998 was 13 million and it has decreased to 9 million only. According to the research by NGO, the real number of the unemployed workers is much bigger than the statistics of the government.
The National President of Indonesia was changed in May, 1998. The people holding the power spent their time to fight for their powership. They did not have any concern or interest on the problem of the workers since IMF crisis. The living cost rose up and the major dismissal became a serious social problem. Even according to the National Statistics Office, the number of the unemployed workers was 15.4 million. In Jakarta, there was a strike in a Chocolate factory, where about 2800 workers were employed, demanding for the wage increase and the acknowledgement of the monthly leave. The abuse and violence by the military were continued and the military even intervene the Management and Labor negotiation. The Mass media did not publicize the news and even the Workers' Party did not make any consideration on this matter. The only victims were the workers.
The sharing on the impact of the free trade to the women workers was followed. In the changed situation, we also need some changed in our movement. Ms. Hae Ran Lee, the representative of Orum, a cultural group, talked about how to make use of the culture in the 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 the low wage and long working time. 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 the better political, social, and economic situation however, the women workers are still suffering from the low wage, long working time, 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.
IV. Achievement and future task
; Your experiences turn to be my reality
In the evaluation, the participants gave very positive feedbacks on the whole program. Particularly, the children care movement and cultural movement were evaluated that our delegates could try to start in their countries. The delegates from Indonesia showed a deep concerns towards the Korean Women's Trade Union and children care facilities. They were inspired to plan for the establishment of the children 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. She said that she learned a good method of demonstration. 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 in three different countries could have examined and studied on the more effective and concrete methodologies of proper activities. We have realized that we all are lacking of understanding on the IMF and Free Trade. The participants wanted the KWWAU to organize this type of workshop every two years in order to keep up.
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