Focus

Sketch from Korea Women Workers' Rally

Working Life, Determined Life

Mi Sook Kim, Educational Researcher in Puchon WWA

Plancards in one hand and the hands of their children in the other, the women workers gathered, full of excitement. What had brought them here? What had compelled them to get up at dawn, wake up their little children and travel such a long way to this place?

 The answer is the KWWAU Rally, attended by our senior members, former political prisoners, young female university students, and the women workers carrying their little children.
  The first program invited all the participants to share their greetings. Each unit gave a performance - amateur perhaps, but warmly welcomed by the other participants. A video presentation on "The history of the Women Workers' movement in the 20th Century" followed. The suffering struggle of women workers during the Japanese colonial period reflected the present-day reality. Has there been historical development? I was very confused. What will be the reality facing the women workers in tens of years' time? What shall we do?

Even though we shall ourselves disappear into history, we may be proud of ourselves, for struggling and confronting these social contradictions.
  Through the cultural session, we understood that all the stories are related to our reality. The establishment of the "Action center for Restoring Irregular Women Workers' Rights" organization and the declaration of our resolution gave shape to our future direction.
  On the way home, we shared personal reflections on our participation in the rally. One felt something very warm and hot deep in her heart, one felt that she had just got up from a long winter sleep with new hope, one vowed to her deep commitment.We confirmed our fellowship and solidarity through sharing these words.  
  People say that the economic situation is getting better. About 44% of corporations are planning to recruit new employees and the reasons for that are "replacing the dismissed labor force" and "business expansion with the economic

 recovery". However the economic crisis has resulted in a widening gap between the rich and poor,

 feature

Irregular women workers can stand up
for their rights!

Where are women workers since the economic crisis? - Proclaiming the "Action Center for Restoring Irregular Women Workers' Rights"

feature

Workers, but not recognized as workers
- Caddies in the dead angle ground of legal protection

Sang Lim Choi, President of KWTU

 KWTU has been busy with a new protest campaign from the very beginning of this year. This is because, while the whole country was excited with the new millenium and hope for the new century, women workers were being dismissed due to turning forty. They were caddies at the Yongin Plaza Golf in Hanhwa Resort. Normally we regard the age of forty not as the age of retirement but as one of the most active, enthusiatic and energetic period in the workplace. The dismissed caddies were very well trained and they had worked there for ten to seventeen years when whole country was excited with a new millenium and hope for the new century. Here the problem had nothing to do with working skill or capacity but was related to gender discrimination. They were just estimated by outlook appearance and age.

  Their employer was able to dismiss them with ease, because caddies are not protected by the Labor Standard Law. Since the 1980s, the occupational sectors which employ a majority of women workers get less legal protection. In many sectors, women workers are not regarded as workers and therefore lack legal protection. Even now, controversy rages over whether they are workers or not. Taking the case of the caddies as representative, let's look into the reality in depth.

Caddies living under the dead angle ground of legal protection

  Over the past few years, public interest in golf has increased owing to Korean successes in several important international golf tournaments. However, it is not well known that caddies have suffered in their dead angle ground of legal protection. At present, there are about twenty thousand caddies in Korea. Their work is of a service nature, and they have been kicked out of their workplaces in middle age in spite of fact that it is often considered a time to work more.
As the Labor Standard Law fails to provide them with any protection, they have to take full responsibility for any kind of industrial accident and have no way to appeal, even if they suffer abuse from their clients. This has been their reality.

Protest demonstration by caddies protesting against the earlier retirement at the age of forty in front of the Hanhwa Group Building

The duties of a caddy include carrying golf equipment during games, delivering golf clubs to their clients, looking for balls, cleaning balls, and taking care of grass damaged by golfers - even though regulations state the golfers themselves are supposedto be responsible for this. In addition, caddies must have a full understanding of the game rules, weather, wind direction, courses, and some information about their clients such as their habits, swing forms, and characteristics in order to carry out the role of a caddy well. It could be seen as professional service work. They have the duty to provide a good service but do not get a good return for their service.

Insecure employment

  In 1989, some pregnant women who worked as caddies delivered deformed babies, causing widespread alarm.
In 1998, a caddy fell down during a game and later died. A caddy's leg was seriously injured after being struck by the wheel of a golf cart. Some caddies were hurt by the swinging golf clubs of their clients. In all these instances, the caddies were regarded as the ones at fault. If clients choose to take some part of the responsibility, the caddy is fortunate. If they don't, tough luck: caddies receive no other form of protection. Urgent measures are needed against these kinds of industrial accidents.

Unjust treatment, inhumane treatment

  When some clients experience unsatisfactory play, they sometimes vent their feelings on the caddies and even turn physically violent. This is due to the distorted perception of the function of caddies. These unexpected incidents must be prevented in order to protect the caddies' human dignity.

Sexual abuse within the workplace

 While the game is played, some thoughtless clients commit verbal, physical, and subtle sexual abuse against caddies. In the case of Pusan Country Club, the club forced caddies to accompany with their clients for drinks. Therefore in the case of Yooseong Country Club, the workers' union included investigation of the conflict between caddies and clients in their labor and management negotiations in 1999. According to the results of negotiation, in the case of client misconduct, the client will be warned.

Apply the Labor Standard Law to all working women

  One of the main tasks of ACRIWWR is to apply the Labor Standard Law to the women workers who work in the dead angle ground of law.  The more women work, the louder their voice. More women workers are speaking up for their rights. The trade union of caddies has been established and a constant struggle has been waged to restore the jobs of the dismissed caddies. The struggle for the application of the Labor Standard Law for the caddies has been carried out unceasingly. In 1999, the home tutors with Wisdom supplementary texts, one of the leading home visiting teaching company, conducted a strike, and they are now in the process of labor and management negotiations. Only the voices which break the silence, saying "We are not the uncomplaining workers any more, who do as they are told", and the women who insist upon their rights, will lead ACRIWWR to success.
 

Life Story Written By Park, Min-na

A woman who wants to retire as a factory worker
- Ms. Bok Seon Oh, Inchon WWA member -

Min Na Park,
Edition committee mimber of KWWAU

Bok Seon Ajuoomma has happy and enjoyable work. There are three male workers and two female workers in her small factory. She receives only fifteen thousand won per day but she never does an extra work. It is not because she has two little kids but she believes that she can work for her life time only when she work with joy. She started working in a factory when she was in elementary school. She could stop working in a factory but, she says that she would like to complete her life as a woman factort worker. She has lived her best. I met her and listen to her 34 years' story. She has always lived a busy life, and could not remember exact year or date.

A kid in a hill estate

  She was born as the third daughter in a hill village on September 5, 1967. Her father, as the eldest son by the first born son, expected a son. Four years after her birth, her brother was born. When the brother was sick and all his family went to the hospital, she, as a six years old kid, cooked rice for the first time. Half of the rice was burnt and the rest was not cooked. The bitter taste of the burnt rice was a preview of her suffering life.
  Hill village are always full of tension by the violence of the demolition corps. She still remembers seeing the sky on getting up in the morning when she was seven years old. The roof was taken away by the demolition corps. She wondered seeing the sky instead of the roof. At that time, there was a violent fight between the demolition corps and residents. Some people even died during the fight. However she does not remember the bad memories. She had lots of friends and her memory of the hill estate is full of joys and happiness though she had to live in a tent after demolition of her house.
  "We took my father's small truck to move to a new house provided by the government. We were going into a deep mountain. I was thinking if it's possible to have a house in such a deep valley. Anyway I was very excited in moving to a new house not a tent. Arriving at the place, we found a house only with a frame. It was like a toy."
  No electricity, no windows, .. They had to live in a tent again and her father had to use spare time to complete the house. They spent that winter in a tent and there was lots of snow in that winter.

Sacrifice of twenty thousand won scholarship to repay debt

  It was impossible for a poor family kid to have a new clothes. The freckles on her face made a distance between her and her friends. She was isolated from her classmates. Her teacher was partial to certain students. For her, poverty and appearance were a serious disaster. Therefore she lost words and just studied. She was the best at study among her brother and sisters.
 "My father sold his small truck and we were getting poorer and poorer. I often observed quarrels of my parents due to problems. The school tuition fee was only 650 won at that time. I was quite sure of the same situation in a senior school therefore I gave up going to the senior school. My parents did not mention about my schooling but I remembered their comments. I used to write letters for the old neighbors who could not write. Looking at me writing letters for the neighbors, my parents said that women need to learn until they can write a letter.  In September when I was in the 6th grade, I started working in a factory. If I could be a heroin of the TV program, "TV with Wave of Love", I would like to look for my teacher of the 6th grade.
" My teacher was very sorry for my situation. When my teacher knew that I worked in a factory, he went to the factory and had a quarrel with the owner. My teacher protested against the child labor.  He made a arrangement for a scholarship of twenty thousand won. The junior high school tuition fee was W24,500. Of course the scholarship was used for repaying the family debt. At that time I hated my parents and determined myself to save money to go to senior school. However, I can understand my parents since I have become a mother. My mother has kept the envelope of the scholarship until now and she always feels sorry for that.

A Gongsooni of a textile factory

  After graduating from elementary school, her total factory life started. She took the company bus at 6:50 and arrived at the factory at 8:20. She finally became a textile factory worker. The most joyful thing for her was to go to the night school run by a catholic church. She finished her work at 7:30pm then went to the night school which started at 8pm and ended at 11pm. She always took the last bus back home. She came home at mid night and studied until 2am. She had to do over-night work once per week. On the day of over-night work, she had to go back to the factory after the class in the night school. Due to her hard work, she passed the Qualifying Exam for the junior high school course
  "I am not so sure but it could be when I was about seventeen years old. My father was collapsed by paralysis. I gave up taking another Qualifying Exam for the senior high school course. My mother carried goods to sell on the streets but, I still had to act as a family leader since my older sisters all married. A year after, we had to move house. We could not fix the house because of debts. So, we sold out our house and moved to a rented flat. My mom, who never cried before, cried a lot  moving  house."
 I am sure that it was not only her mother that cried. Talking about her mother's crying, her eyes turn red.

Being a dismissed worker due to the YMCA activities

  Her factory was bankrupted, and she moved to another textile factory which had a dorm. Seven workers shared one room. It was not very convenient but she could be free from her family. It was also good to live with her colleagues.
  "I always visited my family on my pay day. I used to buy cookies, cigarettes, and Soju(Korean whisky) for my father, meat or pork for my mother, and some snacks for my brother. It seems that my family still recall the memory of my visit."
  Everybody has a turning point in his or her life. A year after working in a new factory, her friend introduced the YMCA to her. YMCA provided her a turning point.
  "It was a kind of play class. They taught me that the monthly pay, I received, should be called as wage. I learned how to account my wage and singcurious songs.  It was a lot of fun. I had lots of curiosity to learn new things. It was politically very tense due to the change of the national constitution. I carried circulars with my YMCA friends and it made my factory managers very nervous.(laughing)"
  According to her expression, she was dismissed for her activities with YMCA. She laughed to talk about this which could be a suffering memory. In her next factory she had to take a turn for day work and night work. She spent a year very quitely. One day, some of the workers began to work for organizing a trade union. Finally they came to her.
  "In a word, organizing a union, I was again organized as an activist. I became a chairman of our dorm and a leader in charge of organizing. I organized climbing club, fishing club, traditional rhythm instrument club, etc. I still had to take care of my family and visit other organizations. I never slept more than three hours. And I came to know about KWWAU."

Inchon WWA members who are more precious than family

 I spent three years in a rush then, I was exhausted. She was also very much bothered by her brother who was too much dependent on her. In November, 1990, she just moved to Inchon where her eldest sister lived.
 Her contact with the Inchon WWA started like this. At the beginning, her sister admired her as a patriot but her sister could not stand her busy life without any concern for marriage. She had a big fight with her sister and left her sister's house. Since she had no place to stay, she stayed in the Inchon WWA office. 14 staff of the Inchon WWA were her the biggest wall she could rely on. For her WWA is like a parents' house and the staff is more than her family.
  "The year of 1991 was full of struggle. I entered a new factory where they had no union. Six months after, the factory was closed by bankruptcy. I was very sad and cried a   lot. I felt as if I lost my job in the factory where I worked for more than ten years. I had lots of things to worry about living in Inchon which was very new to me. A while after, WWA gave me the position of Manager of the Culture Dept. I spent another six months in struggle activities."

  Her naughty eyes looked bright speaking about her activities. She looks very small and pretty. But I could imagine her militancy.
  "It was hard since membership was decreased. We encouraged each other and learned unity. We also learned the process of being a militant. Of course there were conflicts and disagreements in the learning process but, all those experiences became seeds for my life."
  They had a over-night sit in in order to protect property. Even though the process of struggle was very hard, they made good achievements that the arrested workers were released and they received 6 months of wages as dismissal allowance. They could not maintain regular meetings but they still meet from time to time. She still feels warm feeling whenever she recalls her colleagues who were with her in the struggle.

Pregnant woman with RH- blood

 "I entered a new factory in 1993. There were five male workers and one of them was outstanding(laugh). One day he told me that he had a nightmare. So, I asked him to go for a drink. When we came out from a singing room, it was snowing. You maybe able to guess our feelings(laugh). I had a long walk with him."
  They have not had a wedding ceremony. Three years after she worked in the factory, they promised to live together for a million years. However her in-law family to be proposed to postpone their wedding since her husband's elder brothers were not yet married.
  "I miscarried several times so that I had a precise medical check. I came to know that I had RH- blood. Doctors told me that my baby would die even though I succeeded to carry them for ten months. But I did not give up. For the first delivery, doctors told me that an operation would be more dangerous. Therefore I took three days to deliver the first child. Doctors said that it was a very rare case(laugh). The baby weighed only 1.9Kg so that he was in an incubator for a month. I guess, the happiest day of my life was the day
when my baby was discharged from hospital. One hundred days after the first delivery, I got pregnant again. I thought God was going to give me two fortunes and decided to have second baby. Ha, Ha, Ha!"
  Fortunately the second baby was 3.5Kg and everything carried on  normally.  The doctor said that he did not want to see her pregnancy again.  It was because she got through so hard situation.

 Returned to the factory                               with her husband in the camp of InchonWWA(Aug., 1994)

Voices from the workplace

Apology should be made even
for getting bitten by a mad dog

Soon Deuk Kim,
a member of Masan & Changwon Women Workers Assciation

Workplace life amid violent words

  From April 30, 1999, I started working in Sammyeung Ltd. My new career started with encouragement from my manager. He said that we should encourage each other and find good points in each other in order to overcome the economic crisis all over the country. However, the boss began to tame me as his company slave who cannot live outside of the company making use of the weak point of my age. He seemed to expect to have highly qualified robots, not human beings. Because of his fault,of signing the wrong paper, to his account,he threw away all the stuff on my desk and shouted at me. He spoke bad and violent words. I tried not to take his unreasonable behavior and words seriously. I believed that he might got to know me better if I tried to do my best. I tried to be rational so I could show a normal tempo to his anger. Then, he said, "My anger goes up to the highest, I will never scold you." He might be disappointed with my reaction. He might expect me to cry.

Boss, so proud of his hobby to make women cry

  Manager Moon was very difficult. He forced me to wear skirts. He added that making women cry was his favorite hobby so that all female employees working with him cried several times. He also said, "If women do not want to be hungry, the best way is to sleep with men in order to have ten months of guarantee. Do you know men?  As far as I know, women are willing to be naked in front of men by nature...." His verbal sexual abuse continued. Moreover, he used very bad and dirty words and even used violence. He was about to hit me with a key board. He once scratched my neck and pushed me. Whenever I was cornered by him, I really wanted to have a hot fry fan, to hit him but I could not.

Appeal to the Labor Hall

  It was like a nightmare to deal with my daily happenings. On August 12, I knocked on the door of the Labor Hall with my appeal. I tape recorded the violent and bad words of Manager Moon several times. On August 19, Manager Moon was called by the Labor Hall. The boss was like a mad man and he shouted at me. I also tape recorded his words, too. Manager Moon said, "Don't worry, boss. There shouldn't be any evidence. I will just give them my words and everything is going to be alright." I also did record. For myself, for those who have abnormal mentality, and for others like me, I determined to keep up my struggle even though I would become very shamed.  On August 12, I had a bit of physical confrontation with Manager Moon but, I dealt with the situation well. Manager Moon left the office with anger. The boss made an order that I should submit a resignation letter because I made an important employee so angry that he left for home. I took the recorded tapes, some account evidences, the copies of the resume of female applicants, etc. While we were investigated, I was hurt by their arrogant attitudes.

Apology in the district newspaper

  Of course we should not include private feelings in dealing with workloads. Due to all kinds of psychological situations, I did not have a professional spirit as a working woman at those time. I sued Manager Moon for sexual abuse, verbal violence, and physical violence and my boss for verbal and physical violence. I also submitted all the records and tape recordings as evidence. As a result, the company had to pay me consolation money and make a public apology. The Labor Superviser persuaded me to cancel the suit just taking the case as being bitten by a mad dog. I did not accept his commendation and carried out the procedure and the company made a public apology in the district newspaper of February 14 this year.

supporters bring me a victory

  Everything was possible owing to the constant support and encouragement of the KWTU and its themembers. There was a supporter who wrote the contents of the recorded words, that were hard to understand due to the bad condition of recording, and there was the chairwoman of Masan & Changwon WTU and more members who were my body guards at court. There were a lot more people who spared their times and energies to help me. One of them was scolded by her mother in law due to her extra time spent for me. One of them had to ask for an other's help to take care of her daughter who was hospitalized at that time. I was so grateful for their concern and love.
  When I made the first call to KWTU, I was quite reluctant to talk about my problem. I carefully spoke on the phone, "I heard very bad and dirty words from my boss and manager. I have been badly treated by them. What shall I do?" The replier had a very calm and soft voice which made me feel very comfortable and built a deep faith

in her. She advised me to leave records and to make a tape recording if possible. She also advised me to warn my boss and manager. She gave me very basic and sensible advice which helped me to be more rational about my situation. On one side, I thought that the replier was very cool. But all her guidance let me understand the procedure more systematically and fast. My acquaintance with the Women Workers Trade Union provided me a turning point in my life.
   I did not realize how much beautiful meeting new people was. Now things  are different. Now there are the people whom I miss so much and wait for the next meeting. Now I am in the union with beautiful people. I have not lived a long life yet but, I could say that I have leaned an important lesson in my life that every movement for defending my own rights forms a worker's movement.    I am now very proud of my membership in the Women's Trade Union.  

Voices from the workplace

Unjust dismissal in accordance with the law?
- Confronting unjust dismissal of contract based workers

Gwi Hyang Jeon, a nurse in Eastern Red Cross Blood Bank

I worked in the Eastern Red Cross Blood Bank for seven years as a part time nurse. On November 25, 7 part time nurses, who worked for four to seven years, and 8 married women blood takers received a dismissal notice all of sudden. We were forced to sign the resignation letter. In December, another 15 were dismissed with the reasons that they worked for more than five years and had bad records. In fact, the bank released the recruit advertizement before giving them a dismissal notice.
  We were kicked out from our workplace and we wondered around to seek for a new job. We were very tired and did not know what to do.

We came to visit the KWTU and the KWTU staff welcomed us like parents and cared for our problems. We were the women who never had any serious quarrel with others therefore, we worried so much about the struggle which we would carry out for restoring our labor rights. However we decided to implement our struggle getting help from the KWTU.

  First we visited the staff in charge of our dismissal in order to inform them that we were dismissed without any legal base. Even though we were part time nurses, the employer could not dismiss without proper procedure because we worked more than two years and part time workers working for more than two years cannot be dismissed simply.
  Then, we pointed out that the bad records in workloads did not have any reasonable base. The staff in charge of our dismissal answered that they did not have any legal problem in dismissing us. They shouted at us. We felt so bad and felt as if our dignity was insulted.

  We already started our struggle. There was nothing to hide behind. We paid several protest visits to the bank. We even went to work in a way to struggle. We distributed our appeals and statements. We wrote letters to the newspapers. We launched picketing. Finally the bank accepted the injustice involved in sacking us. The bank guaranteed our return to the workplace and promised to pay our wages for the struggle period. At last we have returned to our workplace. It was February 2nd, 2000.

  At the beginning, we only had our will to get through our situation. But we did not have any vision for the future. Owing to the staff and members of KWTU, we could keep up. When we were totally exhausted, we were encouraged, cared for, and supported. And we could harvest the so sweet fruits of our rights.

※ 12 of 14 dismissed nurses have returned to the workplace. Four of them left the bank due to the cool behaviors of other employees in the middle of February. The rest of them are still struggling for their wages which were supposed to be paid by the bank but not yet paid.  

  Kyoung Sook Kim, a returned part time nurse of the Eastern Red Cross Blood Bank

Voices from the workplace

They were not called union members but restaurant Ajoomma

Hyon Joo Kim,
Administration Manger of Inchon WWA

On July 31, 1998, Hyundai Car Co. dismissed 274 workers. Among the dismissed workers, 144 were women workers working in the cafeteria. On August 24, the company and trade union had a negotiation in restructurization and the trade union handed over the cafeteria from the company.  

The dismissed 144 women workers of the cafeteria were re-employed by the trade union under sub contract. When the company spoke about the dismissal, the trade union strongly protested against the dismissal and manifested that the union would struggle even for the last dismissed worker.
The women workers 1f the cafeteria supported the statement of the union and they provided meals for the union. However, they were dismissed by the company and had to struggle for their labor rights. While they struggled to go to their workplace, they were badly treated by the company guards who used violence. The company sued them and even demanded damage compensation.

The women workers asked for the help and the guarantee of their labor rights from the trade union. The union did not accept their appeals saying that their demands were not in their regulations. The women workers realized that they would not be able to conduct any legal step unless they got their identity guaranteed as union members. So, they started their protest setting tents next to the company. They had to welcome the new century from their tents.

  At the beginning of 2000, a new important company issue was brought up and the case of the women workers met the crisis of being forgotten by society. Five women workers, who were over 50 years old, launched a hunger strike. After 13 days of the hunger strike, the union leaders, struggle leaders, and the company representatives met together and promised to do their best in order to restore the dismissed women workers' jobs and formed a special committee for restoring the dismissed workers' jobs.
 They are not yet returned to their workplace. However, they were chosen  as the foundation of women's rights on International Women's Day and they won the Reward of this year's Women Militants. They showed unified women workers' power in the situation where men-oriented trade union led the situation. They provided a great opportunity to re-think about women union members.  

The Action Center for Women's Unemployment

Job-seekers doing it for themselves  
- An alternative for middle-aged women workers;
Doorae of Puchon, the Professional Domestic Helpers' Association of Pusan -

Motivated by vocational training for unemployed female family heads

  There are middle-aged women who have been to countless interviews but have never been successful, who have no husband or income source but are still responsible for finding a livelihood, whose sons or daughters have been made redundant and are thus dependent upon them in spite of their old age... These women have gathered together and formed a group. It is  "Doorae" in Puchon.
  At the present time - March, 2000 - the membership exceeds 40. Most of them are aged between 40 to 50 and some of them are over 60. Their first meeting occurred through the "Vocational Training for the unemployed women family heads" organized by WWA and sponsored by the Ministry of Labor. They were trained as nannies and nursing assistants. After the training, they were enthusiastic to start working but could find no place that would hire them. When they enquired at some recruitment agencies, they found that the application fee was very high and the chances of success slim.

 Therefore they came to a decision: "Let's create work opportunities independently, by publicizing ourselves". The principle of the group funding was agreed as the collection of small membership fees and the contribution of a certain percentage of the payment the women would eventually receive from their new workplaces. Their first funds - 100,000 won (US$90) - were collected through a bazaar held on Children's Day and organized by several local groups. They used these first funds to produce a brochure, which publicized their services and the means to reach them. They distributed the brochure in front of department stores and hospitals. Job offers were given to those who could fit to the requirements from offerers. Their membership fee was W3,000 (about US$2.30) and the members contributed a further 2% of their wage. In August, they began a new venture, providing and delivering lunch boxes. They then ordered memo sets to be printed with their group name and contact number, which were distributed to general hospitals to publicize their nursing assistants.

 Through May and June their name began to become known and the enterprise began to take off. This was owing to the efforts of the members and the support from local newsletters, which allowed them to advertise free of charge. They received more and more enquiries from people seeking domestic helpers, maternity assistants, home-stay nurses, and so on. All their clients have so far been satisfied with their work and have contributed by word of mouth to their growing reputation.

Offers for secure jobs gradually increase

 In October, they were offered between 50 and 80 positions. In January and February, this droppedto 40 - perhaps they think due to the solar and lunar new years. One positive sign is that the offers for nannies and live-in nurses are increasing rather than for domestic helpers. These jobs tend to be more secure. At the moment, most of the members are in work, except those who cannot for personal reasons.
  They hold a leaders' meeting and general members' meeting once a month. In the meetings, the present situation of the members' employment and financial reports are discussed. They also talk about the next month's agenda. Every month they accept new members through membership training.  

Problems and difficulties

 Job offers are increasing and more members are finding stable jobs which give them hope for the future. However, there are some basic and chronic problems.
 First, the financial problem. They need to employ a full-time staff member to manage their members and make recruiting arrangements. But this is impossible as they are operating on their membership fees and members' contributions alone.  They cannot rely on the staff at WWA any more.
 Second, the changeability of their membership. The group organizers emphasize cooperation and self-reliance, but as most of the members are past middle age and are from poor family backgrounds, there is a lack of suitable personal adaptation, and the members tend to be noncommittal. With these conditions it is difficult to achieve a spirit of coordination and self-reliance among the members.
  Third, the long-term vision of Doorae. Most of the work carried out by the Doorae members is not yet categorized as formal labor. This means they are not legally recognized as workers. On the bright side, as the need for this kind of work increases in the future - as more women work and consequently more home help is required - there will be a lot more employment opportunities.
 

Therefore one urgent and essential goal is the legal formalization of their work. For instance, the assistant nurses' jobs could be linked with a free nursing system for poor families in order to develop their work in a third sector. At the moment nannies and maternity assistants as yet have no association. In this case, it would be possible to form links with local welfare centers or to establish a new association which would control wages and connect workers with employers.
 We should decide how to deal with the future vision of Doorae - which is closely related to the problem of women's poverty. The future direction of Doorae depends on this.

Establishment of the Professional Domestic Helpers' Association
  The Professional Domestic Helpers'

  Association was established on July 3, 1999 by one hundred members. In April, 1999, the Working Women's House held vocational training sessions for domestic helping work. The training participants continued to meet every month and they hit upon the idea of establishing the association. Twenty members formed the preparatory committee of the association. The committee members met at night because they had to work during the daytime. Even though they were very tired they were happy and enthusiastic to work at night for the establishment of the association. They had to make lots of phone calls and even suffered sore throats due to talking so much on the phone. They held many discussions on the regulations and procedure of setting up the association. They also organized membership training. Their members are aged between 30 and 50. Finally they made their constitution.

The Professional Domestic Helpers' Association is;

1. a self-reliant organization in which the middle-aged members seek employment independently

2. an organization geared toward professionalizing the domestic helpers' work which is increasingly in demand as more women are working

3. an organization based on the community spirit inherited from our ancestors, whose traditional spirit embraced mutual assistance in order to increase the quality of lives

4. an organization which cultivates women's communal culture and spirit of mutual assistance towards female solidarity

  The association was set up through the hard work of women who want to get through the IMF economic crisis.

Craft Union, a self-reliant organization

  The association is a craft union of general domestic helpers' which is operated by the women themselves. They have a chairwoman, vice- chairwoman, secretary general, auditor, and a dept. of public relations, a dept. of marketing, a dept. of organization, and four executive committees (assistant home nurses, domestic helpers, nannies, and maternity assistants). The four executive committees meet every month and they also hold a general meeting once every two months and a monthly members' meeting. The leaders are elected through the general assembly. The membership fee is W10,000 for registration and W10,000 per month. One of the members works in the office to manage office work.

Spirit of coordination and improvement of professionalism

  They have made great achievements in the administration, organization, and publicizing of their work. The membership spirit and members' consciousness have also improved. They have focused on stabilizing the organization. In the process, they failed to pay enough attention to fostering solidarity within the organization, and therefore some newcomers regard the association merely as a job arrangement office. The members have realized that they should provide more activities to strengthen the membership and feelings of solidarity. The aims for 2000 are to increase the profile of the home-helping profession and to strengthen the unity and coordination of the members. They are also planning to publish a monthly newsletter, monitor the members' situation, hold picnics, leadership training, and new membership training.

As an alternative

  Immediate goals are to achieve self-financing, to provide constant training programs for members, to improve the independence of the members, and to develop and create more labor areas. As the association is self-reliant and functional organization, if possible, they would like to register as a craft union or to get assistance from the irregular women workers' trade union.
  It is hard to guarantee jobs for women past middle age and for the irregular women workers to guarantee their rights alone. Therefore, it is essential for them to develop more links and solidarity with other women's organizations or other related organizations.  It is impossible to express the suffering of the people kicked out from their workplaces with the IMF economic crisis. Under the circumstances, the organizations were established by the women themselves as a way to tackle the social problem of unemployment.  We can renew hope through the community spirit which leads people to help each other and share their difficulties and joys together with their neighbors.  

 Korea Working Women's Network 2000                                              

Equal Rights Counselling

Counseling Cases from January & February

In Soon Wang, Sec.Gen. of KWWAU

Unjust Dismissal

  How to make the resignation letter, which was forceful submitted, invalid

 She worked in XX University Hospital for 20 years. Recently the hospital tried to recommend female employees to resign. Meanwhile the hospital made new two year contracts with the retired employees, some temporary employees and interns became regular employees, and the hospital recruited new employees. Her boss said, "The Secretary General of hospital wants to fire all the employees who have worked for more than ten years because the hospital should pay pensions for the employees working for more than twenty years. Under the circumstance, she wrote a resignation letter and she felt that it was unfair. Therefore she submitted an appeal to the Special Committee of Women(Pusan)

  Have to quit the job because of the age

  She worked for eight months as a housekeeper in a newly built apartment. There were five more women housekeepers. They all were regarded as good and efficient workers. However they heard from the director of the maintenance office that they shouldq quit work because they are getting old. A few days after, they were told that they did not clean the elevators properly and the machines were out of order. They were supposed to be responsible. They had to quit the job. Moreover they did not receive their last salary yet. They wonder whether they could receive the last salary or not.(Puchon)

  Dismissal Notice due to legal action against the violence of a senior officer

  She worked in a manufacture company as secretary. She was badly beaten by her manager and the hospital estimated two weeks for recovering her injury.  She brought the case to the court. After two days of rest, she went to work and her boss shouted at her with a dismissal notice.  He also mentioned that she would not receive any salary or retirement allowance. Her colleagues were sorry for her broken nose but they all seem to regard her legal action as an over reaction.(Central)

  Unjust treatments due to maternity leave

  She worked in the XXX Electronics for 14 years. She was shifted to the section where workers carry heavy stuff when she was in the 8th month of her pregnancy. The worst thing is that the section next to her new section was the section for cleaning goods where the workers are using detergents that need to be examined every six months. After she moved to the section, her legs got swollen, her womb was sore, and finally started to bleed. She submitted an application for maternity leave. The company did not accept her application for the reason that her name was on the list for being dismissed soon. So, she got a letter from her medical doctor and got the  letter notarized and sent it to the company. Then, the company sent her a dismissal notice. (Inchon)

  Dismissal notice during maternity leave

 She worked for three years in the company. She was the first woman to apply for maternity leave. At the moment, there are no married women employees. She was the only one married and pregnant are in her company. According to the regulation, two months are guaranteed for maternity leave. She often mentioned the date of her maternity leave and submitted the vacation plan to the company. She had to start her maternity leave one week earlier than it was planned.  Her boss informed her that her vacation was not accepted so that she was dismissed by the end of December.(Central)

  Application for maternity leave should include resignation letter

  She worked as a designer in a distribution company for four years. She started as a dispatched worker but she has never renewed her labor contract with the company for the past four years. She expected to deliver in April. Her boss tried to persuade her to resign from her work and talked as if there was no maternity leave. In fact, it is clearly manifested in the company constitution that there are two months of maternity leave. If she want to get her maternity leave, she should submit her resignation letter, too. She does not know what to do.(Central)

Sexual abuse, dirty words, and violence within the workplace

  Be careful of problem manager

  She worked in a hotel as an intern. She was called by her manager. Coming into his office, he attempted to abuse her sexually. All the new female comers heard about his bad reputation but, she, unfortunately, did not. She wants to do something to stopsexual abuse within workplace.(Pusan)

  Sexual abuse by senior employee while drinking

  She works in a huge discount mart, which has about 300 employees as sales woman. In the drinking place, her senior employee attempted to abuse her sexually so that she tried to run away. Then, he used violence to stop her. Therefore other female employees and he had some physical confrontation. Afterwards, the female employees brought up the case in the workplace. The senior employee denied the fact and even said that he was hurt by the physical attack of the female employees. The company is going to fire both, the female employee and the senior employee. What can she do.(Inchon)

  Drunken boss touches breasts

 She works in a garment company. While she was talking to her colleagues, her boss came into the place. He suddenly touched her breasts. There have been several occasions of being sexually abused by him. How to handle this?(Seoul)

  Constant sexual abuse of the manager

  She worked with four men, the boss, the manager, and one staff. A month after she entered the company, the manager began to ask for coffee, cigarettes, and other un-official demands. Then he began to stare at her with evil eyes and to say, "I can imagine your naked body, I am sure that you want to hug me, Shall we play?..." She really wants to quit her job. She heard that former female employees quit their work because of him. What can she do?(Masan & Changwon)

  Constant violence and violent words

  She is having a hard time with her male colleagues who use violent words and even use violence. He used to say, "Shall I tear off your mouse? Bastard....", "SOB", etc.
  Sometimes he berates female employees. Some of them left the company. The company has a union but, the union has no will to speak up for female workers. Is there any way to punish this bad guy?(Masan & Changwon)

  A medical doctor applied physical violence to a nurse

  She works in the emergency room. A doctor got angry at me because I did not change a pillow of one patient. He threw his chart away. I appealed, "Why are you shouting?" Then, he hit my face and even threw a chair on me. (Kwangju)  

NEWS

Korean Women Workers
Associations United
  Seoul, Inchon, Puchon, Ansan, Kwangju, Mansan & Changwon, North Cholla, Pusan     

KWWAU

- Education for counselors of Equal Rights Counseling Center

 There was educational training for the counselors of the Equal Rights Counseling Center all over the country. There were lectures on interpretation and case study of the dispatched workers and a case workshop on dispatched workers. The sepeciality of the course was that the participants had a chance to apply their counseling cases to the actual legal process in order to experience the factuality of the law and its application to real cases. Aside from the lecture on dispatched workers, there was a special lecture on the utility of a Data Base and the establishment of a DB.

- The present situation of women's employment based on the analysis of the counseling cases during the first quarter of the year

 During the first quarter of 2000, 368 cases have been registered through the Equal Rights Counseling Center. The particularities of the registered cases are 1) Worsened labor conditions due to change of the employment form, 2) Forced resignation and unjust treatments due to marriage, pregnancy, or birth delivery, 3) Violent words and physical violence within the workplace. There were lots of clients appealing the delay of payment, unjust dismissal, and other reasons for insecurity of employment. The clients' sufferings reflect the situation of women workers influenced by the change of the employment form which mean, change to irregular base. The sexual abuse, violent words, and physical violence within the workplace have increased three times compared with the fourth quarter of 1999.

- Meeting with the workers from the Free Trade Zone in Sri Lanka(April 22-30)

 Activists of KWWAU visited Sri Lanka in order to meet the activists in the Free Trade Zone in Sri Lanka. A number of women workers work in Katunayake and Biyagama, parts of Free Trade Zone, under hard and weak labor conditions. Last February, the law, which allows organizing trade unions within the Free Trade Zone, there were lots of attempts to set up trade unions however, they are having hard time because the companies in the FTZ are dismissing the leaders of trade union organizing. Those workers, who work in Korean companies, have been suffering from unjust dismissal and violences. The Korean delegates shared with them about experiences from the Masan FTZ. Both Korea's and Sri Lanka's workers established a strong solidarity between two countries.

- Research on dispatched workers

 The law on dispatched workers is going to be two years old by July this year. According to the present law, the contract period of dispatched workers is two years and if a company wants to renew the contract after two years, the company must employ the worker under the regular base. However, at the moment, the corporations are demanding dispatched workers' contracts. The corporations are trying to avoid hiring the dispatched workers under the regular base so that they are sacking workers within two years. KWWAU has launced research on the situation of the dispatched workers. We are planning to provide proper and reasonable measures to help the dispatched workers through the research. The research will be completed at the end of May.

North Cholla WWA

- Weekly campaign for the gurarantee of legal rights of the irregular women  workers

  Weekly Campaign for the guarantee of the lgal rights of irregular women workers have been conducted in Cheonju and Iksan.

- Monitoring the damage in the process of seeking for and getting a new job

  The Monitoring project was provided in order to help those women workers who were expelled from their previous workplace due to the IMF economic crisis and met various difficulties in the process of getting a new job. North Cholla WWA will complete the Monitoring project at the end of May and will study the result of the project. It is planned to hold an open forum in July in order to publicize the problem in society.

Pucheon WWA

 -Women Workers' School, "Finding myself inside me"(March 24 - April 14)

  The Women Workers' School, "Finding myself inside me", which is for unmarried women, was conducted. There were four lectures on "Self-growth", "Marriage and Sex from your own perspective", "Working women are beautiful", and "Towards the future with confidence". The lectures were composed of input and sharing. The participants had a chance to strengthen their consciousness as working women and to build up solidarity with other women workers. As a follow-up activity, a small group was formed and the group has already had the first meeting. They are planning to meet every two weeks in order to study, share, and organize some cultural activites

- Education for new employees on the prevention of sexual abuse within the workplace
and on the related laws of employment

  In order to help the graduates of senior high school to have a firm and clear understanding on sex and the employment context, and in order to help ready them for their future employment,  the education under the theme of "Prevention of sexual abuse and employment laws" is going to be held in May, November, and December in four senior high schools for 2,500 students. It is in order to help them to be ready for the proper and healthy life in the workplace and to build up a proper sex culture in the workplace.

Ansan WWA

- "Doorae" Sports Day of (April 22)

 Doorae, which is an autonomous organization of unemployed women workers, launched a sports day for their members and their families. They prepared a lot for the day. It was a little rainy but the members had a wonderful time to consolidate their solidarity and to confirm their unity through various games.

- Lecture for single women(May 15 - June 26)

  Ansan WWA plans to hold seven lectures for single women under the theme of "With special joy". The lecture will help the attendants to get positive thought towards themselves, to overcome own limit and to plan for the future, and to find out good points in order to grow self-confidence. The lecture is open to every single woman who wants to stand firmly as a woman in this society.

- Education for the activists working for irregular workers(May 9, 12)

  At the present, the rate of irregular workers including dispatched workers is  over 58%. Particularly women workers are under aworse situation in terms of security of employment and labor condition. Under the circumstance, WWA is going to hold an educational program on May 9 and 12 for union leaders and members on the recent trend and situation of irregular workers and the interpretation of the related laws to dispatched workers.

Masan & Changwon

- Group counseling for unemployed women workers (May 2 - 3)

 Group Counseling for unemployed women workers under the theme of "Here I am" was conducted. There were four lectures, a group game, and "Let's speak well of others" which was a group dynamic program. The participants experienced various group activities. They got a new hope for their future activities.

- Propagandizing the Movement Headquarter for Restoration of Irregualr Women Workers' Rights

  Since the campaign on April 7th, weekly propaganda work has been conducted. MCWWA has publicized the rights of irregular women workers and the activities of the headquarter through their publications.

Seoul WWA

- Doorae for overcoming umemployment

  The "Doorae for Overcoming Unemployment", which was established through the activities of Seoul WWA, conducted a series of lectures and counseling thanks to the help of Lawyer, Sam Hwa Kim under the theme of "Living laws with Lawyer Sam Hwa Kim is near us". The lectures and counseling were focused on the methods of dealing with debt, renting house and divorce.  In April, the lecture was hold under the theme of "A single parent's children's education". It was a good chance for the women family heads to realize that every problem can be solved when they realize that they are important and owners of their lives. In May, it was planned to hold a lecture on the  introduction and interpretation of labor related information in order to help them to struggle for their rights.

- Small grouping for women head of family

  The group counseling of April was actively participated in by women family heads and got a positive feedback.  The participants of counseling at the age of 30 to 40 formed themselves and are planning to meet on May 20. They are planning to have a monthly meeting where they want to have a self- development program until December.

Kwangju WWA

- Leadership Training(April 1-2)

  Kwangju WWA held a leadership training in a resort and about ten leaders participated in the program. They shared about the role and attitudes of leaders, plans and activities for 2000, and consolidating their wills. Through the training, they evaluated their activities and planned for better activities for 2000.

- Campaign on fundraising for the development of women(May 4)

  On May 4, 2000, there was a campaign on fundraising for the development of women in collaboration with other women organizations. In the campaign, there were various events of face painting, selling badges, and distribution of brochures.

- Research on the reality of cooks in charge of school meals

  The Kwangju ACRIWWR has conducted research on cooks in charge of school meals from April to May. The research has been conducted in over 70 schools. The main contents of the questionnaire regard employment condition and the application of the Labor Standard Law. At the end of May, the result of the research will be publicized and it is planned to conduct a roundtable meeting with the replyers and officers in charge in the Ministry of Education.

Inchon WWA

- Group Counseling for women family heads

 Inchon WWA has conducted group counseling from April 14 for women family heads. Aside from counseling various group activities have been provided in order to help the participants to share about their experiences and difficulties in order to comfort each other and to help each other. It is hoped that they can find the way to get through their difficulties by themselves.

- I protect my rights by myself

 From April 19, publicizing the irregular workers' problem has started. The campaign has been conducted in subway stations. The campaign will last for a month in order to publicize the rights of irregular workers. A good number of people have contacted the WWA Counseling Center after reading the brochure. It is found that a lot of people do not know their rights.

- Lecture on the developing creativity of women, "A special joy"

 From April 26, the lecture has started for all women under the theme of "Lecture 2000 for developing the creativity of women". The lecture is going to help move from all kinds of negative attitudes and to grow more positive attitudes, to help them to live in unity with other women, and to develop more successive relationships with others.

- Training for voluntary teachers in "Study Rooms" for children from poor families

 WWA is planning to hold a series of training for the voluntary teachers of study room for the children from poor families from May 16 for six times. There will be "Sensitivity training", "Sex education for children", "Community plays", "Systematization of the after school programs", etc.  They hope to have lots of participations.