| kwwa |
2002-10-28 13:45:30, 조회 : 56 |
I. Background
There was an exchange program which gave us a great opportunity to share with our friends from other countries. It has been a fruitful, wonderful, and helpful experiences for our fellow women worker in Korea. Since there is almost no chance for women workers to travel other countries, it was a good opportunity for them to meet foreign friends who could share similar problems and different experiences.
We were very happy to have our friends from Indonesia and Thailand.
We had Ayuni, Rosmawaty Situmotang, Tati, Choirul Mahpuduah, and Tonilah from Indonesia and Prangtip and Yaowapa from Thailand for the program. 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.
II. Report by day to day
Everyday during the exchange program was full of sharing and sharing of unity, solidarity, and grateful joys. Here we summarized what we have done during the program by day to day base.
September 5,1999
Our delegates from Thailand and Indonesia arrived at nine thirty at night. We welcomed them and moved to the place to stay.
September 6, 1999
Despite our friends went to bed very late, we all were in time to meet in the lobby of the hotel, where they were staying. We started driving to Otnuri in Inchon. 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.
Around ten thirty in the morning, we arrived at the Otnuri factory. Workers were busy doing their work. Some were cutting cloth, some were working with sewing machines, some were ironing...... Our delegates observed carefully with much interest. We had a talk with the Chairwoman Mi Sook Lee from eleven to one o'clock. The delegates asked about the background of the Otnuri, the operation system of it, the working condition of the workplace, etc.. They were particularly interested in the criteria of membership, the size of income, and the way to share the profits.
After lunch, we had an exposure to the industrial complex in Namdong of Inchon, then moved to another industrial complex in Guro of Seoul. We had the Chairwoman Seok Hee Jang of Seoul Women Workers Association, who worked in the Guro industrial complex for a long time, as a guide. Guro industrial complex has an important historical background. 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 theory of economic development. One of the starting stations of the struggle was the solidarity struggle of Guro. It was the historical event which succeeded to make up widely united workers' struggle participated by various workplace units. 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 pops, 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 Labor hall. They protested against the governors 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 to the employer of the company and the employer entertained them. The workers set some tents in front of the hall 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 statement. In her statement, 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."
Afterwards, we visited to the Seoul Women Workers' Association and toured to the Children Care Center and After School Class that were run by SWWA.
September 7, 1999
On the second day of the exchange program, we flied to Pusan. The chairwoman of Masan & Changwon Women Workers Association welcomed us at the airport. We drove to Masan and had a lunch there. After lunch, we spent one and half hours in their office to hear about the operation of the children care center. Our foreign friends showed their special interests on the operation and concrete programs that are now conducting, and they asked many questions on these. Afterwards we visited to the Sanken trade union and heard the situation of the 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. And the newly employed workers are reluctant to join union due to read the face of the employer. However, the commitment of the union members is very strong and even non-union members still have much interest in the union. We talked about the recent move of the union, the present difficulties of the union, and any conflicts between the union members and the non union members.
After visiting to Sanken trade union, we returned back to Pusan fro the next day's program.
September 8, 1999
On the third day, the program in Pusan can be divided into two sessions. The first session is to visit the vocational training center and to observe their program. The second session is sharing on the influence and effects of the women workers' situation by the change of industrial structure.
We started with the brief explanation by the vice director of "The house of Working Women" on the works of the House. The House of Working Women was established in 1997 supported by the Ministry of Labor. The House has been conducting vocational training courses, information service for recruiting, occupational counseling, etc. In order to give concrete helps for the participants of the program, the House is running a children care center. It has been evaluated that these programs have made certain contributions to organize women workers. As a result, the women workers, who have gone through the total helpers' training course, have formed a total helpers' association and actively implemented their works. The delegates were interested in the amount of finance supported by the government, the relation with the government, and the concrete programs. After the brief explanation, we visited different classes; the class for needlework, the class for hair dressing, and the class for computer.
For the second session, we took the case of Pusan as an example in order to make a more concrete approach. 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, gave us an input on how has the situation of the women workers in Pusan and South Kyounsang areas changed in accordance with the change of the industrial structure. 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?" Ms. Choi 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.
Then, we toured the area, where there were shoe factories which are changed to lots of small subcontract factories now. There were a huge Nike factory, whose workers were over twenty thousand, and some other big shoe factories in that area. However, we could not find any memory from the area because the place was occupied by high apartments complex. Next to the apartment zone, there are a number of small subcontract factories.
We flied back to Seoul in order to meet the president of the Korean Women's Trade Union, Ms. Sang Lim Choi. The president Sang Lim Choi started her sharing with talking about the problem of the hidden unemployed women including the disappointed unemployed women, the problem of the irregular workers, who are recently increasing largely, and the present situation of the women workers in Korea. The decreasing rate of the women union members is a result of the present situation, and at the same time, it causes the worsened situation of the women workers. The existing trade union is more regular workers-oriented and men workers-oriented. It is hard for them to change their strategy which has marginalized women workers. Under these situation, the Korean Women's Trade Union has been established in order to seek for a new strategy to organize women workers. The delegates were willing to hear more about the situation of women workers in Korea.
September 9 -10
There was a workshop on the fourth and fifth days.
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 restructurizing. 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 restructurization and has continued to demand for the shortening the working time and the renovation of the big enterprises.
On the second workshop, Ms. Sook Ja Kim, a children care activist, talked about the activation of the children care movement and how to establish and operate the children care center in Korea through the history of the children care movement. It was the beginning of the 80s when the people began to talk about the children care facilities. It was the time when a number of the married women entered in to the labor market. The demands for the children care facilities were widely increased. Many women's organizations and religious organizations began to set up the facilities. Afterwards, the children care activists formed groups to take a role as a pressure group to the government's policies. Now they are leveling up themselves as children carers' movement.
On the third workshop, we shared the situation of the women workers in Korea and in Thailand and Indonesia. On the fourth workshop, we shared on the influences of the free trade to the women workers.
On the fifth workshop, 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.
On the sixth workshop, we shared and talked about the methods to consolidate our solidarity, follow-up programs after the exchange program, and evaluation. 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.
Besides, it was pointed that whole schedule was too tight due to too many programs and language barrier. Since we had to spend double time for translation, we had to spend double time for every schedule.
After dinner, we went to Myongdong Cathedral, which is a symbolical place for the democratization movement in Korea. When we visited to the Cathedral, catholic priests and faithfuls were having a hunger demonstration for the abolition of the National Security Law. Many citizen's organizations also joined in the demonstration. Our delegates reminded of their own laws in their home country and showed deep interests and concerns.
September 11, 1999
On the sixth day, we had a downtown tour in the morning. We went to a palace and some tourist streets. We had a very joyful and comfortable time. In the afternoon, we attended to the opening ceremony of Inchon KWTU. Afterwards, we went to the cafe, run by KWWAU. The cafe has been run by the KWWAU in a way to create works for the unemployed female family heads and to raise funds for the KWWAU.
September 12, 1999
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