[vol.14] VOICES FROM WORKPLACES_ The colleague-ship of Han Kuk Machine Union protected women workers from dismissal.

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:38
The colleague-ship of Han Kuk Machine Union protected women workers from dismissal.

Kyoung Ran Yoon(A director of Hot Line of Equality, Pusan Women Workers)

The preferred dismissal of women workers has become a new and serious social problem in the prejudiced and generally accepted ideas that define the role of men and women. In more prosperous times, even married women were brought to the workplaces and paid low wages.

However, during the depression, the role of women was suddenly limited to the home and women were forced to change their workplace to the home.
It is clearly against the law on the right of labor. Although a married woman may be forced to resign from her job, this does not mean her husbands job is guaranteed. This idea does not help male workers but gives authority to employers to dismiss women workers any time they want.

It is possible to think that the dismissal of colleagues is a better guarantee for my job.
Here we have the story of a struggle made by women workers to protect their fellow union members from being dismissed.

Han Kuk Machine Co. workers union - Hyon Chul Choo, a chairman of the union - met the discriminative dismissal of women workers under the mood of IMF and dismissal arrangement.
There were, of course, the men workers who thought that it was better to dismiss women workers rather than dismissing men workers who were supposed to be main financial suppliers. However, it was a big problem for the union. Be-cause 9 union members were brought to the list to be dismissed. In this factory, there are 170 workers all together and 50 of them joined the union.

There had not been a single attempt to organize a group to support women workers and no problems arose due to the discrimination between men and women workers.

On December 27, 1997, the company suddenly made an announcement, The nine women workers out of fourteen workers in the assembly section would be dismissed by December 31st. The union acted quickly. On the following day, the union made a relief petition to the Pusan Labor Committee in the name of unjust dismissal and launched an over-night demonstration.

The chairman of the union persuaded union members, and claimed, The dismissal, which was applied to the women workers first, will soon affect all the workers. If we cannot stand together firmly on this crisis, the wind of dismissal will rush throughout the company. In light of solidarity, most of the workers,

women and men both, participated in the demonstration. The union provided a month program for the demonstration and planned solidarity activities conjunction with other women organizations. The union continued to deal with the company.

The union pointed out the fact that the company had a very sufficient budget for travel expenses because the company was an export-oriented one. The union proposed to decrease the budget for the business travel in order to rescue the dismissed women workers.

The company recorded twenty six won of whole sale per year and the union had full information about the management of the company so that the negotiation was possibly fulfilled.
Furthermore even the non union members lent their supports. Every section of the company tried to persuade the company to choose ways that would not single at some workers while excusing others. On January 3, 1998, the company finally concluded to keep on all workers.

Efficient efforts, close supervision of the companys management and consolidating the unity of the union members, is what of the union helped defend their colleagues. It also taught a good lesson to the owners of enterprises and society of the attitudes towards the women workers.

We agree with the decision of Han Kuk Machine Co., that the survival of workers and employer both, should be a good model to our society. Dismissing workers because of financial crisis is against the principal, that employers once believed in, of thinking of workers as family members.

There are so many employers who dismissed their workers without looking for other avenues, even before the dismissal arrangement was legalized. We should supervise those unjust employers who are taking advantage of this crisis by firing their workers without rational reasons and there should be enforced regulations to punish them.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.14] VOICES FROM WORKPLACES_ How there arent workers to work in workplaces ? Since the food supplying string is cut.

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:38
How there arent workers to work in workplaces ?
Since the food supplying string is cut.

Yang Ja Sin(A volunteer of Seoul Women Workers Association)

Kyong Do Collection, formerly Kyong Do Co. , which was handed over to Tong Il Co., in Guro Industrial Plants suddenly dishonored a bill without any notice.

The Kyong Do Co. was a sewing company that produced mens suits and subcontracted with Elcanto and Jindo both big and stable companies. Kyong Do has its own brand and is quite a stabilized company. After the collapse of the company, over 10 women workers lost their jobs without receiving retiring allowances or even salaries.

Ms. Myong Lim Ko, 34 years old, worked for Kyong Do for three years, and presently works as a deputy secretary for southern region of the Seoul Garment Manufacturing Workers Union, fought for the countermeasures of the companys dishonoring.

“We accomplished the target productions in 1996 and believe that the year of 1996 made a black record.
However we felt uneasy from the beginning of 1997 and our salaries and bonuses were delayed to be paid from May. Finally the salaries were delayed for two and half months. We all were already in a difficult situation but, we tried to keep our hopes up that we would eventually receive our delayed salaries.”

And so they attempted to get through the crisis. On December 1, about 30 workers including Ms. Ko gathered to organize a countermeasure committee and were suddenly informed of the companys dishonoring. It was a shock. Because only president of the company went for clearing bills in the day before their gathering.

“The president ran away and the managers did not turn up. We went to the house of the president but all his family already run away. From that day on, we took turns guarding the company. We all were in a very difficult situation especially married women who worried deeply about the tuition fees for their children.”

Because the president had run away, the workers attempted to make money by selling the machines and whatever could be sold. For that the workers formed the obligees unit on December 2. Over 60 workers have joined the Chong Gye Garments workers union and the union work together with the workers.

“At first the president refused to give us power of attorney, so we wrote a petition letter to the Ministry of Labor. In the end the president asked us to withdraw the petition letter and gave us attorney.
We sold the machines, cloths, and clothes and made 130 million wons.”

The money however did not help the situation. The total amount of the unpaid wages for 160 workers was 690 million wons, not including retiring allowances. Ms. Go explained that her company could form an obligees committee but, in many other companies in this plants they could not form the committee.

“It is very common to dismiss workers when a difficult situation arises. In many cases, the company wants to run the annual salary system with lower wages, no bonus`, and no retiring allowances, but many times companies are forced to shutdown.

After the IMF, a number of companies have either closed or collapsed. What is puzzling is, how such stable companies could close so quickly.”

The media has focused mainly on the dismissal arrangement for white color and professional sectors. A long time ago, there was news that there were no workers for the 3D industries. However, the situation in the industrial sector is now very serious.

“The sewing industry, by nature, is weaker than other industries. If a big enterprise collapses, the related small industries and subcontract industries will subsequently collapse, too.

We, the factory workers feel that we have no voice and dont even get the chance to worry. We are just dismissed at once when the company is closed. Furthermore, there are many factories that are not registered, and the workers in those factories can not be benefited by the employment insurance or peoples pension system. Some of them even have no medical insurance benefits. It is fortunate that my company has the employment insurance. ”

In January alone, more than 3,000 factories were closed which is a significant number. It is seldom that factories are able to recruit new workers, due to the present situation, and most of the factories cannot pay wages in time.

Putting it briefly, there has been no solution and our lives have become shaky and unstable.
Each day the government and media mention the unemployment rate, but the numbers we hear usually have nothing to do with the workers. However the estimation of the number is nothing to do with workers. For us, the unemployment problem is the most important and relevant issue.

“The mass talks about shared sufferings. But it seems that it is the media itself which cause most of the problems for workers, it is our opinion that the political sector is the place where the dismissal arrangement is most needed.”

After the interview, Ms. Myong Lim Ko added the above opinions with a firm voice.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.14] Feature_ IMF AND WOMEN WORKS

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:37

IMF AND WOMEN WORKS

Young Ju Son(A Secretary General Seoul Women Workers Association)

These days, IMF is a very popular term amongst the Koreans. Almost everyone knows the meaning of the English term of IMF from a 5 year old boy who asked his father, Dad, did IMF take away your job ? to the mother asking her son, Has your company been affected by the IMF ? Most people have felt the impact of the IMF era.

Lately the topic of the IMF cannot be avoided due to the economic crisis which is felt in every circumstance. Surely those most victimized are workers and their families. An atmosphere affected by sudden unemployment and unjust firing causes an overflow of exploited laborer unjustified laborer.

Workers live in a fear of losing their job. The individuals who have lost their jobs must worry about how they will support their families. Daily newspapers tell stories of people who cannot afford their past lifestyles so they prefer to leave their homes, suicide, abandoning to their children, and other unfortunate solutions. In this present economic crisis, which has called for monetary relief, has made the situation of women workers have worsened and become even more terrifying.

The 'Working Women' is going to study on the situation for women workers and their employment conditions.

  1. The onset of the IMF era and the subsequent sufferings of workers

    After the IMF decided to help to Korea, Korea was forced to reconsider the economy on a large scale and launched new policies such as retrenchment policy, the open door policy, big enterprises reformed their structure and market competition was strengthened and made more flexible.

    Is the economic policy of the IMF, which is being backed by the U.S. the perfect recipe for the economic crisis in Korea? To this question, scholars have many negative theories for one it may cause the deepening of panic due to the retrenchment policy, secondly the peoples economy could collapse due to the immense flow of international speculative capitals.

    The unemployment rate could increase, wages could get lower and poverty worsened, incomes may decrease because of high inflation and increased taxes, and finally many may be by disadvantaged by various social security systems, and other political and social instability may occur.

    The government has repeatedly campaigned that the IMF is a sort of panacea for the present economic crisis and has made an example of Mexico, pointing out that Mexico succeeded to overcome its economic crisis and had made economic development through IMF. However, this does not seem to be the case. The onset of severe trials has already opened.

    The sufferings, that should be loaded to big enterprises and those responsible for the economic collapse have already become a burden to workers.

  2. The increase of unemployment and worsened labor conditions

    Women workers in the midst of unemployment with no countermeasures

    n this situation, whose enterprises and monetary capitals are collapsing the Korea Bank reported that the number of dishonored companies in January of 1988 was upto 1,239 which would be higher if we were to count the small subcontract factories. At the end of January this year, the number of unemployed reached to over 700,000.

    It is expected that the number of unemployed will increase to over 1,500,000 in this year, which means that one out of every 100,000 households will be unemployed. In the late 80s, many people became unemployed in the process of reorganizing the industrial structure.

    In this case, most of the unemployed workers belonged to the electronics, garment, and shoes industries, industries geared mainly towards the encouragement of women workers. The crisis has however increased the amount of unemployed in these areas and also spread out on a wider scale to all industries. According to the National Statistics, the increase of the female unemployment rate is seven times bigger than male unemployment rate, since the third quarter of 1997.

    Because 60% of women workers are working the small factories that have less than 5 workers, the present situation forces women workers out of their working places.

    ‘ company in Guro plants suddenly dishonored the company without notice in December, 1997. The company was a subcontract sewing factory supplied to Elcanto and Jindo, such a big company. And it has own brand, too. Which means that the company was quite stabilized. However, it was suddenly dishonored, and about 160 to 170 women workers lost their jobs and could not receive retiring allowances and even their salaries for past two months.’

    Hope to get a job of any kind of work!!

    The Seoul federation of Women Workers has operated the Hot line for job application and there have been numerous calls for finding jobs from the end of last year. They are the fired workers and the housewives whose husbands were discharged from their jobs.

    'From February 1st to the 18th, 1988, there were 147 of job applications from women. In January, 42% of the total applicants were in their 20s and 56% were in their 30s. But in March, the percentage of applicants in their 30s increased to 61 %, and 63% of them were married women. 10% of all applicants wanted any king of work which makes us feel the urgency and depth of the situation.'

    Dismissals being implemented under evasion of the law

    In the situation, where workers are being dismissed illegally, the employment condition for women workers has worsened. The number of dismissed workers is increasing because of chained factories lockout and a systemised plan to reduce workers.
    Businesses are also encouraging early retirements and even forced honorable resignations.

    ‘A factory in Masan moved its machines and resources to other surrounding factories and forced this women workers to move. However, at the same time, the company recruited new workers. One woman worker who refused not to move, was demoted to the cleaning section for a while and then, finally sent a dismissal notice.’

    ‘The metal factory in Pusan forced a woman worker of age, 55, to resign in the name of the cutting down of staff.’

    In some cases, companies have encouraged mass resignation following which the company goes through certain steps to choose those who should volunteers. In this process, the company selects the active union members and militants to be dismissed. Clearly companies are taking advantages to weaken union activities.

    ‘The furniture collected a resignation en masse and the company sent an individual notice of dismissal on the next day. The company did not make any autonomous efforts to solve the crisis. The company did not pay for the retiring allowances at the time of dismissal. The company informed that the retiring allowance would be given quarterly after three months. The problem lies in that most of the active union members were on the list of dismissal.’

    ‘The Electronics made an announcement during a morning meeting, Those who are on maternity leave should not think of returning to work, as there will be no place for you with your return. The company pressurized married women on maternity wore pressures into beginning.’

    Many women who have refused to work on Sundays have been dismissed suddenly with IMF. Married women, who have worked for a long time in professional jobs are usually the first targeted for dismissal.

    Therefore, we can see the effects in the past ten years to achieve equal employment has led to nothing. Because of the deeply rooted thought that men are the main financial providers and that women can any time return to be housewives, women are usually the ones targeted for dismissal in part time jobs and temporary jobs.

    Furthermore, the LG-ECS System Ltd., which went into the black of over 15 billion won, was sued due to the fact that the company still dismissed more than 600 workers.

    Dismiss regular workers while the number of irregular workers increase

    According to the National Statistics in November, 1997, the rate of regular workers decreased by 4.8% while the rate of irregular workers was increased to 8%. The result was that the number of irregular workers increased to over six million which covers 45% of total workers. The great overseas monetary capitals, however, still pressure Korea to accept the major dismissals and the expeditionary man powers insisting that the labour market in Korea is stiffened.

    ‘In company, over a hundred women workers were dismissed and tens of women workers, able to work in their houses temporarily, were recruited.’

    ‘In company, the married women workers were dismissed and their jobs were handed over to the service company.’ ‘The company in Masan, fifteen regular women workers were called in individually by the company, and were forced to change their contract from the regular positions to irregular partimers or to quit the jobs.’

    Unjust working , being worsened by working conditions

    We would be hard pressed to find a company that seeks the most beneficial way to all an d communicates with its workers as means to overcome the IMF crisis. In many cases, companies have made their own decisions for working conditions ignoring the agreements between the company and workers.

    The companies are making use of this crisis to implement the ability based salary system with no extra allowances or bonus, which has been the constant desire of the companies. Companies have changed their working hours, and working terms, introduced the annual salary system and the capacity-based personnel system, and has forced people to use vacations and, not longer give bonus for unused vacations.
    In many factories women workers are forced to use the annual vacations first.

    ‘The company did not pay for the workers wages and bonuses and the company force the workers to use their monthly and annual vacations.’

    ‘The company denied bonuses and reduced wages. It also forced workers to leave their union. The company pressured the workers, in the name of the dismissal plan, to leave the union, and some workers left the union. There are those companies that are really in crisis but some companies are making use of this situation to reduce wages and decrease working powers.
    For the purpose of dismissing workers, they are going through not paying wages, forcing the use of vacation, and returning bonuses for the first stage.’

    Workers in manufacturing, whose sections have been shutdown temporally are not being moved to busier sections. The workers who belong to the busy section have to do extra work as the company plans to dismiss those workers who are belonged to the sections that have been shutdown.

    In Masan Free Export Plants, the trend is that the companies reduces and , at the same time load more work onto the existing workers and leave a number of workers on the waiting list through the line shutdown.

    'The company in Guro Industrial Plants moved the factory to An Yang and demanded a 5% reduction of wages, 150% returning of bonuses, and no allowances for monthly and annual vacations and day- off.'

  3. The achievement of employment stability and overcoming its limits

    We can vividly recall the sufferings of women workers who were unjustly dismissal and the high unemployment during the industrial re-structuring in the late 80s. We are now confronted with a similar responsibility to stabilize employment under the IMF system.

    We need to identify and punish those who are responsible for the present economic crisis. The government should punish those enterprises that are making use of this crisis for their own sake . Under the name of IMF crisis, they are conducting unjust dismissal, discriminative dismissal of women workers, and providing unjust working conditions.

    The government should promptly handle those enterprises, that are, in fact, responsible for the present economic crisis. During Kim Young Sams presidency, the government spent 40 trillion won to reform the insolvent financial organs. However, the joint labor-management committee decided to provide 5 trillion won for the countermeasure funds for the unemployment and the major sum of the funds would be covered by donations and the government would spend only 250 billion won.

    It is very insufficient amount for the increasing numbers of the unemployed. The present president Kim Dae Jung promised during his election campaign that the new government would guarantee for the stability of employment, the countermeasures for the unemployed, vocational training programs and job arrangements, creation of jobs, same treatment and social security for the working places which have less than five workers with the wider working places, equal treatment for the temporary workers, etc. The president should keep to his words.

    The government, which is the biggest employer of all, should create more working seats in the public sections and equal opportunities for women workers should be implemented. We are strongly against the retro-gression of defending the maternity, supporting child care, and improvement of atmosphere for the industrial safety under the reason of IMF crisis.

    There should be a budget allotted to support small and medium companies that are on the verge of collapse , for paying the unpaid wages of workers, for financing the dismissed workers, and for launching the social security systems. One sure way would be to reduce some of the budget for the national defense which should be done as soon as possible.

    Enterprises should make efforts to avoid the dismissing workers by shortening working and by providing vocational trainings. Shortening working hours can be an effective way to decrease the number of the unemployed and it can create more employment.

    This method has been suggested by many scholars to the government and enterprises. The average working hour for a week, per worker, in 1996 was 47.3 hours. If we can decrease it to 40 hours, about 2 million workers would still have jobs. The dismissal arrangement law and the labor expeditionary law, which were found to be violating the resolution of the labour-management committee, should be amended.

    Now organizing free-lance workers and full-time workers in small plants comes to an urgent issue. The organizing should be solid and various projects should be developed and implemented. In the case of Han Kuk Machine, the workers union is a good model of the present situation.

    The Han Kuk company tried to dismiss women workers in advance and the workers union struggled against the dismissal.
    At last the union won in the struggle.(The whole story can be found in the Voices from the workplaces) This demonstrates the tactics used by companies and the conflicts it causes to its employees.

    [ References ]

    • The Vision and Task of Korean Economy in the IMF Times, Jin Ho Yoon
    • The IMF Times and the Life of Workers, The Labor Union Institute of Research on the Enterprise Management
    • Present Analysis on Women Employment, Seoul Women Workers
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] Working Women vol.13

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:37

Working Women Vol.13

December, 1997
A edition committee member of KWWA
Catoon : Yang Son Jang

National Laborer Aseembly was opened successfully at Kosubuji, 9th November, 1997. gathered 30,000 persons. Also, Members of Working Women's Associations in the Metropolitan area participated together with their children and resolved together to gain stable employment.

     Feature 1.
    Celebrating the Month of Equal Employment

     Feature 2.
    Proposals for the Extension of Childcare facilities within Workplaces

     Voice from the workplaces
    Hankuk Sanyun Union fights against Japanese capitalist

     International solidarity link
    On completing the Exchange Programme between Korea & Indonesia

     Equality Counseling Activities

Korea Working Women's Network 1997
Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] Equality Counseling Activities_ "EQUALITY LINE" PUBLISHES A COUNSELING CASES BOOK:

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:36
"EQUALITY LINE" PUBLISHES A COUNSELING CASES BOOK:

'Equality Line' - a counseling center for women workers - published a book on counseling cases, on the occasion of the Line's second anniversary. This book includes all the counseling cases the Line received from September 1996 to August 1997. The Line has a total of seven counseling centers nationwide including ones opened in by the offices of KWWA-Chonbuk and KWWA-Daegu this year.

The Line has worked not only on counseling activities but also on activities such as holding conferences and education programmes. Below is a summary of typical counseling cases published in the book.

Overall Trends
The Equal for Line received a total of 303 counseling calls or visits from women workers. Among those, 124 (56.6 percent) cases, were about delays in wage payment, irregular employment, and dismissal.

And 32 cases (14.6 percent) were about sexual violence in the workplace, 30 cases (13.7 percent) about maternity-related malpractices, 19 cases (8.7 percent) about sexual discrimination in the employment, and 14 cases (6.4 percent) about occupational disease.

Married women workers comprised about 60 percent of those cases. And 79 percent of the women who reported their cases to the Line were working in the non-unionized workplaces, which shows a 6.5 percent point increase compared to 72.5 percent the year before.

Irregular workers such as temporary and contract workers comprised the majority who reported grievances regarding delay in wage payment. This was clearly a delay intentionally practiced by their employers.

Most of the sexual violence cases are about sexual harassment and verbal abuses which are not legally recognized as sexually violent practices under the current law. And employers tend to encourage the victims to resign from their job thus adding to the mental distress of the victim.

Maternity-related cases were mainly about violation of menstruation leave clauses, and also about lack of protection for pregnant workers.

Actual Cases

  1. Unstable Employment (Delay in Wage Payment, Dismissal)

    • No bonus given to an irregular employee
      I am working at the kitchen of a company. When I got hired by this company about a year ago, the manager told me his company did not pay bonuses to workers. But, I recently found out that every employee who has been working in the company for more than one year receives a bonus equivalent to one month' pay.

      So, I asked the manager about it, and he said that I am not eligible for a bonus, no matter how long I work here, because I am not a regular worker. He stated that he would raise my pay a little bit instead. I am doing the same work as others in the kitchen of this company do. Why am I not eligible for a bonus? Is there any way I can get it? (Inchon)

    • Fired without retirement pay and severance allowance
      I have been working in a trading company with 2 representatives of the company - I am the only employee. My employer told me the other day that I no was longer needed to come to work because he would close the office in five days. I got very upset mainly because I received the notice only five days before the office closing. However I thought I would get payed at least the retirement pay and severance allowance. Now the employer says he cannot pay me them. What can I do? (Seoul)

    • Unjust reassignment to another position
      I am one of the five employees who had production workers in their current place of employment but who were recently were assigned into 'reserve' positions. I think the company has done this to us because we are active members of the union.(Masan)

  2. Sexual Discrimination in (Employment, Assignment of Personnel, Early Retirement)

    • Employment of women on a basis of their physical features
      I am a sales person working in a department store. When hiring women sales workers, the department regards women's facial looks and bodily features as the primary criteria in selecting workers.

      When an individual shop recruits sales women, the managers of the department store interview those women face to face and do not allow the shop owner to hire the women who the managers think are not 'attractive enough.' Is there any way for us to discourage the managers from carrying out the terrible practices? (Seoul)

    • Women are laid off first:
      I have been working as an accountant in a private high school for 19 years. The school managers are trying to lay off six married women at the moment. No male workers are threatened. I cannot stand this injustice. I have been working for 19 years! Can your organization help me with this? (Pusan)

    • Woman forced to resign in order to have her maternity leave:
      I have been working in a aluminum production company for 12 years. I got married in 1993, and gave birth to my first child early last year. But I could not take the maternity leave at that time because I knew that no women workers ever took the leave in this company. My supervisor still indirectly press me to resign my job, for example, praising a woman employee who voluntarily quit her job before she gave birth. (Pusan)

  3. Sexual Violence

    • Offender gets better rewards
      The foreman in my workplace is notorious for his sexually harassing practices towards women, such as speaking dirty jokes, touching women workers' hips, and so on. Although he once was called to the disciplinary committee and was suspended for two months, now he has returned and is given much better working conditions than before.

      He is even trying to blame and alienate the victims of his sexual abuses from the major group of workers. The victims have made a legal suit against him, but the managers in now doing their best to lead these women to withdraw the suit. (Seoul)

    • Victim, not the offender, forced to resign
      I have been sexually harassed by my supervisor for long. One day, he and I had a very severe argument. The senior supervisor of our department came to know the situation I was going through, and told me that I had better take a rest for a little while during which he would manage the situation so that I could come back to work with no problem.

      I believed what he said and turned in a letter of resignation as he told me to as a 'strategy.' But, my resignation was formally accepted by the management right after, while the offender is still working in the company without any punishment. (Inchon)

  4. Maternity Protection and Childcare

    • Shortening of the period of maternity leave
      I am a teacher in a private high school. The school management allows women teachers only one-month maternity leave. Even the Ministry of Education says it is not illegal because the regulations state that maternity leave can be given 'up to 60 days'. As far as I know, 60 days of maternity leave is the generally practiced one in most companies and institutions. Is this interpretation of the 'up to 60 day' clause right? (Seoul)

    • Deducting 10 days of menstruation leave from the maternity leave
      I am a clerical worker. When I was pregnant, I kept taking the menstruation leave once a month. But later, when I was taking maternity leave for giving birth, the management allowed only 50 days of leave rather than 60 days which is the usual practice in our company.

      They said they had to subtract 10 days from the 60 because I already took the 10. I wonder if they are right. If so, is there no legal protection system for pregnant women workers? (Seoul)

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] International solidarity link_ ON COMPLETING THE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME BETWEEN KOREA & INDONESIA

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:35
ON COMPLETING THE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
BETWEEN KOREA & INDONESIA

Shon yung ju(Secretary at SWWAU)

Under the auspices of KWWAU the exchange program, for international relationships with the Indonesian Women Workers and the understanding of the Korean transnational corporation's situation overseas, was held from August 31 to September 10 in Indonesia.

In order to participate in the program, we - (Rhie Cholsoon president of KWWAU, Park hyunmi, Choi Myung hee and I) - met at Kimpo International Airport on August 31 at 10:00a.m. with nervous hearts. Because after checking everything we were in the process of going through passport control when an unexpected incident occurred.

To enter Indonesia, the expire date on the passport should be a minimum of six months away, however, Chol-soon (Maria)'s expired date was short by ten days. We couldn't do anything there at the airport that morning. So one of our party could not go abroad, but what was more, Maria was to be our interpreter at the program.

Also, it wasn't easy to cancel or postpone the program which was set for some months in constant dialogue with the Indonesian representatives. Furthermore it could lead to a breakdown in international trust. The resolution Maria would go to Indonesia as soon as she took care of these problems following us three who would leave first.

Nervousness about being in a foreign land soon disappeared:

Like seeing off her own child, Maria sent us off. We, with a heavy burden on our shoulders worrying about how we are going to overcome this situation, got on a plane to Indonesia. We were also worried about the language barrier in the plane because it wasn't a Korean plane. It Garuda the indonesian national airline and the flight attendants spoke little Korean.

After we came though emigration, we saw a guy holding up a picket with big letters "KWWAU" at the airport. We were very glad to see him. On our way to hotel, by car with our little English speaking abilities, we just made small talk introducing ourselves.

We felt our uneasiness slowly disappearing as we saw the exotic view through the window.

Although it was autumn, it was like the early summer in Korean climate, we spent our first night in Indonesia a little warm. The next morning, we visited the labor movement organization called YBP and heard about the labor situation. in the first free trade zone in Jakarta..

With Illegal layoffs, th labor movement under the forceful oppression of the police and the army, Jakarta's laborers were in a poor situation working 12 hours a day with a pay as low as 5750 Rp (1$=2800Rp).

Equal Wages between Women and Men but the Standard is Low:

Even though the wage level was low, as soon as we heard that the wage was equal between men and women, it was a bitter to think about Korean Women Workers earning only 58% of Men Workers' wage.

▶ Together with activists at liberal export zone, Jakarta, Indonesia

Nowadays, large conglomerates like Hyundai, Samsung, Kia, Daewoo and medium sized enterprises are doing business in Indonesia involved in footwear, garments, electronics, pharmaceuticals, plastics etc.

In the afternoon, we visited free trade zone factories and in the evening, we were to meet free trade zone women workers and talk about the women workers' situation and union works.

However due to the language barriers we could not fully express our opinions so that we just had to be satisfied with learning a bit of each other's languages. After getting a little closer by laughing and learning a little our respective languages, the barriers gradually broke down and we became all relaxed.

On the second day, we gladly joined up with Maria who just arrived. We met with the so called "Women Laborers' Forum" women workers we had met the previous day at the Free Export Zone. This forum was found in 1996 to solve problems they were facing - to have the male trade union leaders recognize women's issues as well as to overcome the low level of participation of women workers in the union.

The 7 participants of this forum were workers laid off from the sewing, clothing factories and workers from Japanese and Korean companies. The seven had 1 or 2 small groups each at their working places consisting 8-10 workers each and what they did was to prepare for the struggle in the most appropriate way for their particular workplace.

Women workers in Indonesia consists of 90% of All Indonesian workers and at the moment, they were fighting for 3 demands.

The Implementation of the monthly Menstruation leave:

First of all, the biggest issue was the guarantee of the monthly leave. In law the monthly leave was regulated as two days, however, in reality, the same days had to be used each and every month and what was more, they had to have the menstruation blood on their sanitary napkin checked.

In one company's case, they would not allow people to use their monthly leave owing to the managing problem; if people did use their monthly leave, that day is excluded from the number of working days with the result that the monthly leave is just in name only.

The second demand is the guarantee of the three months off before and after giving birth. The legal maternity leave is three months, however it is not possible to take leave before birth so that people only use half of their maternity leave -(one moth and fifteen days) - after birth.

Also, women workers who have worked more than two years of continuous service were only allowed to use their maternity leave with the result that once again the maternity leave regulation was just there in mere name only.

The third issue is the demand for the establishment of the long service allowance.
In Indonesia, whether it's a year or ten years, length of service isn't recognized so that all people get the same wages. That's why people are demanding of long service allowance.

Counselling of women in the sex industry:

On September 3, we headed to Surabaya on Java Island. For two days, we stayed there and visited HUMANIKA, the supporting group for labor organizations; also the Hot Line, the supporting counseling group for the trafficking of women and women laborers; and LSKBH, the legal counselling office and social research group.

The conspicuous thing while visiting these groups was that the half of the activists were male. Seeing this, I was happy to see that there were a lot of men who were aware and were working together with alienated women as the way to integral human liberation.

We also had a chance to look around the Rungkut free trade zone and an area crowded with home industries. Development in Rungkut began in 1973 and was formally designated as a free trade zone in 1988.

Like Korea, it was impossible to go into the factory and look around the workplace so that we just had to be satisfied with just seeing from afar. At Rungkut free trade zone, there are 300 business areas and 300,000 workers.

Foods, drinks, ramyun, ketchup, and ice cream making factories were the most common followed by the metal and machinery factories. There were five Korean companies including Kungdong industries.

On September 5, we took a trip by train to have a workshop with Indonesian activists and group leaders for three days. The reason we went to the place taking a five hour train journey was because in Indonesia, in order to have a meeting consisting more than 10 people, a prior report has to made to government authorities.

We were to meet at Yogyakarta, the place where the Suravaya area activists and Jakarta area activists could come together with no problems . At this workshop, a total of 13 people got together and it was held at the studio of an artist.

The time was spent introducing ourselves, each country's working environment and situation as well as having exchanges about the labor movement.

Korean Company's Inhumane Procedures Disclosed

Speaking of the Korean working situation, we talked about the restructuring of the industry since 1990 and the unstable employment faced by the workers. Speaking of Indonesia, they talked about poor working conditions such as the low wage less than $2, and 12 hours of long work, late payment for overtime, a great number of layoffs, indifference towards workers' health and safety in the working places, sexual harrassment, the system of yellow unions that responds only to company demands rather than the needs of the workers, oppressions of workers by the military etc.

One female worker talked about the inhumane behavior towards the Indonesian of a Korean manager at a Korean company: As the work shift finished he would scatter the employee's attendance cards on the ground without any reasons and he would shout and call names.

At the workers looking for their cards on the ground, This story is one example of misbehavior by multi-national corporations. Listening to this story, we felt empathy with the workers and the anger growing inside us at the Korean companies' wrong method in controlling the workers.

Since August 1997, the new Labor Law allows only individual demands deeming illegal collective actions in the company. Under this restriction of collective action, Indonesian workers actively work in the small groups to overcome the poor working conditions.

When sun set, the temperature declined sharply and it was a bit chilly like Korea in late fall. We had not prepared any winter clothes so that we spent our nights feeling a little chilly and very aware of the lizards on the wall........

Establishment of Solidarity between Korean and Indonesian Female Workers:

On the second day of the workshop, we talked about Korean labour experience such as labor union movement incidents, the child care situation within companies and examples of the women's organization. In the afternoon we had a discussion on how to strengthen solidarity between Korean and Indonesian female workers.

Indonesian activists wanted Korean news through fax, e-mail, or letter and visits by Korean childcare, labor union, and labour movement groups. They particularly wanted the support from Korean labor movement groups on the issue of Korean companies' misbehavior. Also, wanted this type of workshop to be held on a regular basis held.

We got a chance to spend three days at Bali thanks to the concern of the Indonesian side about our busy lives in Korea and after the third day, we were on a plane back to Korea.

The passionate resistance by the Indonesian female workers' to the yellow unions in the face of oppression by the government and the military was a fresh inspiration to us. This inspiration and energy

I believe will be a source strength to our movements. Finally I want to thank the KWWAU for arranging this profitable and beneficial program.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] Voice from the workplaces_ HANKUK SANYUN UNION FIGHTS AGAINST JAPANESE CAPITALIST

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:34
HANKUK SANYUN UNION FIGHTS
AGAINST JAPANESE CAPITALIST
Hankuk Sanyun Inc., was established in 1973 with 100% Japanese capital. In this company, located in Changwon City, the unions, should be organized. Secondly, the women workers have been struggling for the last eight months.

Small and medium Japanese companies which had been on the verge of bankruptcy in labor intensive industry in Japan, moved into Korea in 1970 in order to take advantage of financial benefits, tax holidays, easy control of labor and low wage women workers.

However, since the widespread labor struggle of 1987 the previous labor control strategies did not work. When the investment conditions changed eg. wage hike, repeal of the 'Provisional Exceptional Laws Concerning Labor Unions and the Settlement of Labor Disputes in Foreign Invested Firms' and the expiration of the special privileged period for the most of the Japanese companies, these companies started to pursue different managerial strategies.
Small and medium foreign companies that invested in Korea's labor intensive industries moved out from Korea to Southeast Asian Countries in order to reduce production costs.

In this process of this withdrawal, many of Korean women workers lost their jobs abruptly. The companies also maneuvered to destroy labor unions using the "Kusadae" (goon squad). Hankuk Sanyun Union has become a scapegoat under the oppression by a foreign invested firm.

(1) Bargaining on the one hand but naked oppression of the union on the other hand:

Hankuk Sanyun Union started to work on the collective bargaining in the middle of April 1997, just like other unions in Korea. However, the company delayed negotiations without due reasons. Thus, the union, delegating its bargaining rights to the Federation of Metal Workers' Unions, attempted to make progress with negotiations.

The company management asserted that they can not negotiate with anyone except the workers actually employed in Hankuk Sanyun Inc., and they refused to negotiate at all for two months.

Since late June, the company refused to bargain misusing the newly amended labor laws and argued that they have the right to unilaterally cancel collective contract. The Ministry of Labor and the respective government offices assumed an indifferent attitude toward this case and did not make any efforts.

After a long and difficult struggle, the workers succeeded to get the company to the bargaining table, but the company started to clamp down on the union openly in October.

They said in a letter to the union, "Since we do not have any collective contract at this moment, full time union officials must return to their original posts on the factory floor.

The union must return the union office to the company. Statements and announcements from the union written on the walls and hanging banners must be pulled down. Persons from outside may not get into the company.

We will cut the electric power and the water supplies when the work is over. We will increase company security forces through use of a subcontractor in order to implement these measures". It showed naked oppression and threats toward the union.

(2) Violence by the 'Kusadae' to women employees and to a pregnant woman:

 Male-managers assaulted female-chief of a union who protested the suspension of water and power supply (they thorned down her on the paved street after turning her four times)

materials and machines away from the factory during the night, and finally, the company disclosed its plan of retrenchment - a plan that the managers had been keeping to themselves until then. They said that the company does not have to pay the retrenchment pay, that is, an equal amount of 15 months' wage in case of retrenchment, because the collective contract was cancelled.

The company asked for 150 workers who would like to voluntary resign. For these people they announced that they will pay only the normal severance pay without retrenchment pay. They threatened the workers with a notice that if there were not 150 volunteers by November 15th, they will retrench them by force.

However, only an hour after issuing such a warning, the company mobilized male workers to assault women production workers. They invaded the labor union office, broke the wall, windows, and tore down hanging banners, statements and announcements of the union which were written on the walls.

(3) Illegal Lockout:

The union has conducted negotiations with the company for the last eight months, suggesting to resolve every problem peacefully. They patiently put up with the company violence and tried to work normally. Taking that into account it is clear that the actions of the company show a clear lack of humanity.

The company, without any apology for their behavior, announced a lockout. After that came cutting off the power and water. During this process, the company enticed male managers to assault union leaders, and three of the leaders had to be helped by the Rescue 119 - (emergency rescue team operated by the police in Korea) - and were taken to the emergency room in an hospital.

Each had been carried out - their four limbs grasped by different men - and was thrown down on the paved street three times in the heavy rain.

No one took notice of our situation in Korea, when we, Korean women workers were oppressed by a foreign capitalist.
Only a few news media reported on our situation. We shouted everywhere, but only just to hear the echo of our own voices coming back to us. The only ones who helped and defended us were the workers.

The solidarity actions of many workers in Changwon area, who risked being arrested, touched our heart.

(4) Public Indifference and Solidarity among Workers:

The Changwon area workers spent several nights with us Hankuk Sanyun workers, without any electric power; they brought us a generator under the heavy rain; they fought against our managers in a scuffle in order to defend us; they helped us to guard ourselves during the cold nights with us, carrying candle lights or flesh lights.

With all this kind of love and trust, we started to be certain that our struggle would end in a victory for us. We have learned a lot of things during our eight months struggle. We have learned how great our unity, our capacity for a united action, although women are often considered feeble and weak. Management must have been surprised that we have so much power.

Some of the union members had to resign for their marriage. They could have received two million Won from the company if they had withdrawn from the union.

But they wanted to remain union members in order to support the union, telling us in tears that they were so sorry about not being able to continue the struggle along with us. A union member who was expecting a baby, apologized for her not participating in our struggle; the one who was very near to give a birth dashed into the union office saying that she heard the news while she was on a maternity leave; when three union leaders started to go on a hunger strike, the rank and file members forbade the leaders to do it, although they had never failed to follow the union's policy till then. All of the union members, including a pregnant women, started to refuse lunch on order to persuade the leaders to break their hunger strike.

The day when the leaders had to stop their hunger strike before their 10th day, we all cried. For the last 4-5 months we have experienced economic difficulty because we have not received any wage due to the "no work, no wage principle."

Still the workers in Changwon area were considerate enough that they have made contributions to the strike fund with unsparing hands; These are all the expressions and evidences of love.

(5) The Struggle will not end yet:

While we were carrying on our struggle, we learned that if we lean on one another for support, and if we love and trust each other to be united, we would never give in. This is the most important thing we have learned and it is the precious victory we have won.

Although we do not know when the struggle will be over, the women workers at Hannuk Sanyun will remember this struggle. They will remember that we have learned love and trust during the long fight. The women workers will keep something in their mind that caring for one another and love for one anther are the ultimate weapons for the workers.

We are convinced that we have already won, although we do not know the outcome yet. I express gratitude toward those workers in this area and in the whole country who supported us and gave us love. And we are preparing a bigger unity in the future.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] Feature 2._ PROPOSALS FOR THE EXTENSION OF CHILDCARE FACILITIES WITHIN WORKSPACES

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:33
PROPOSALS FOR THE EXTENSION OF CHILDCARE FACILITIES
WITHIN WORKSPACES
A forum for the extension of childcare facilities within workplaces was opened in the assembly hall of the labor welfare industrial complex in October 29th.
It was sponsored by the 'Joint Committee for the Promotion of Childcare Facilities within Workplaces.' This following is an abstract from the 'Proposals re Government Policies, and Suggestions of Practical Guidelines for the Company & the Labor Union', a presentation made by Wang In-sun, the executive officer of the KWWAU.

  1. The evaluation of the government's policies on the childcare facilities within workplaces

    The government has actively carried out policies to expand childcare facilities in the 1990s. But, the facilities are still insufficient.

    Presently, reaching the end of 1996, the existing facilities catered for only 39% of children in need. The government, which has the primarily responsibility for providing such facilities, is depending too much for the childcare services on private organizations, which tends to reduce the public committment to childcare services.

    The government' plan to expand the childcare facilities for infants can be divided into the expansion of institutions; financial aid from the government; the revision of relevant laws, and administration guidance.

    It is true that the policies concerning childcare facilities for infants practiced by the government under this plan has received much criticism. It is judged to have established over ambitious goals;
    which can be verified in the ambition the government showed in extending the financial aid and expanding the childcare facilities.



    But, the plans to expand facilities - (establish 7000 childcare facilities within workplaces whether public or private from 1995 to 1997 and raise the capacity rate to 90%) - went under sweeping revision. The financial aid for the facilities was not made available according to the planned budget,. There seems to be a problem with the basis and the direction of the government policies.

  2. The Proposals on government policies

    1. Proposals on the general direction of the policy:

      ** The social responsibility of the company to provide childcare support should be raised.

      The company should take social responsibility on childcare, as together with the government it is equally concerned about the stability of the workforce, and securing the basic rights of the workers. To raise the responsibility of the company, the government should expand its aid for the establishment and running of childcare services by business also work on policies to lead the company to invest on the childcare industry.

      ** Policies should be established to support and encourage the employers to diversify the forms of childcare facilities and to expand the government aid on the company's expenses.

      The government should aid the expenses and establish policies to expand the childcare support formula of the company. At present this diversification is in embryonic stage eg. the establishment of childcare facilities within 'Chaebols' (the large corporations in Korea), the opening of private childcare facilities within workplaces to regional citizens, and the commission of private childcare facilities etc.

      ** The childcare facilities within workplaces and regions should be linked in cooperation.

      Though a childcare institution is established in workplaces, an infant cannot accompany his or her parent to a distant workplace. This fact makes the parent of infants to prefer childcare institutes near their home. Therefore, a policy concerning childcare facilities should be implemented in the direction of a joint initiatives between workplace and local centres.

      ** The solidification of the Ministry of Labor's administrative guidance and the establishment of a cooperation system between Ministerial Offices

      Even if the childcare policies are well made, it is hard to have efficiency without active administrative guidance. Right now, it is almost impossible to find counseling offices or information desks concerning the establishment and operations of childcare facilities. The government, - local government organizations - and companies should take joint actions to establish and operate childcare workplaces within workplaces, and establish a system for cooperation between the various govt departments..

    2. Proposals:

      ** The concept of workplace childcare facilities should be broadened and varied:.

      First of all, if the company agrees to let the workers use the regional private childcare facilities, the company should take partial responsibility for the operational expenses, and the government should support a part of the financial expense.

      Secondly, in the case of childcare facilities which the labor union, the worker, the user organization and a third person all establish and operate together to take care of the workers' children, the company should support financial expenses partially, and the government should take partial responsibility for the company's expenses.

      ** Make obligatory the establishment and opening of childcare facilities within workplaces in big enterprises and public organizations:

      The number of childcare facilities within workplaces planned to be built in public organizations was 240 by 1997, but only 75 are operating now. Public organizations and big enterprises should establish regional childcare institutions, open them to workers from joint enterprises, subcontracting enterprises, small enterprises nearby and to persons living in that locality.

      ** Diversify the company's system for supporting childcare:

      The childcare aid policies that the company supports should be more diversified rather than just doing the minimum of establishing childcare facilities within workplaces and paying for childcare allowances.

      Firstly, in the case of workplaces that are required to establish the required facilities, the first stage should be to establish childcare centers within workplaces either independently or co-operatively for the children of the workers; the second stage would follow later on with the opening up the center to children from the region or companies nearby.

      Secondly, in situation where a company uses a local centre the company should make a contract with the centre to support children at there and also to partially support the operation costs of such facilities.

      Thirdly, even if the company cannot establish a childcare center within itself, it should take partial responsibility of the operation fees and other expenses of the private childcare centers within the region. Fourthly, the company should pay more than 50% of the childcare expenses that the workers incur.

    3. Diversify and Expand the ways of Government Assistance:

      ** Prioritize Assistance to Medium and Small Enterprises:

      First of all, the government should create basic policies of making loans available to induce big enterprises to establish childcare centers within workplaces. It should also introduce a system of warning if policies are not followed. On the other hand, they government should make small enterprises establish childcare centers within workplaces through direct financial assistance rather than making loans available.

      Secondly, concerning the financial loans for the establishment and support for the operation of such centres , the government should give first priority to adequately support the small enterprises.

      ** Expand Aid for the Establishment of Joint Childcare Centers within Workplaces:

      Jointly operated childcare centers are possible in for example in such places as; industrial complexes, cooperative agricultural community, an association of small and medium business, a cooperative association or companies of a business group. These groups should be selected as the chief areas for establishing such facilities and these facilities should be opened up to children of the residents and workers nearby.

      The change from individual labor unions to federations of unions can provide the basis for the expansion of the establishment of cooperative childcare centers within workplaces.
      The establishment of these cooperative childcare centers should be chosen as a policy to be implemented in the future.

    4. The reformation of laws

      ** Expand the workplaces required to establish facilities:

      First of all, the criterion for workplaces required to establish such facilities should be broadened. (at present it applies to places with over 300 persons employed).

      The number of women working in workplaces with more than 300 people comprise only 25.4% of working women. Women working in companies with more than 5 people and less than 299 people are 74,6% of the total working women in Korea. Therefore, it should be legally binding to establish childcare centers within workplaces with more than 150 employees.

      Also, it is necessary to extend the interpretation of full time worker. Rather that limiting it to persons who work full time in one physical place the interpretation should focus on the actual work done by a person. Secondly, the current guidelines that require the establishment of centres at workplaces with just women workers at certain workplaces should be changed to require such facilities where both men and women work. The fact is that childcare is not only an assignment for women, but a social supporting arrangement for both men and women as they carry out side by side career and family life.

      This has been is clearly stated in the various UN & ILO conventions which Korea has ratified.

      ** Re the standards for people engaged in childcare and the establishment of facilities:

      Companies operating childcare centers are suggesting the relaxation of the current legal and administerial regulations concerning the establishment of childcare centers and the standards of the persons working there. This is because regulations about the establishment of centres within industry is strictly regulated and ted the same as private profit making childcare centers.

      But the present standards for people engaged in child care centres is the minimum standard. Any more relaxation of the policies will cause the depreciation of the quality of the childcare centers.

      To reform the legal and administrial difficulties effectively, it would be best to strengthen the function of counselling centres which could present information on facilities and the operation of such facilities to industry.

      ** The introduction of warning system for labor policies Presently, the requirement to establish childcare centres is only an advisory regulation.

      Certain workplaces are required to establish childcare centers and pay childcare fees, but there are no specified measures to respond to companies which fail to follow the law. As a means to increase the rate of establishing facilities at the required, the law should mandate the establishment of childcare centers within a certain period of time.

      At the same time a warning policy should also be introduced to encourage and promote the establishment of such within that said period.

      After this period has passed, the companies which failed to establish such facilities should be required to avail of one of the enterprise-aided childcare service methods. If they fail to fulfil that, then the company should be punished.

      ** Tax Alleviation:

      The present government aid concerning the tax alleviation is merely a 10% tax reduction on investment in establishing and running costs. This tax benefit should be increased from the perspective that the company takes responsibility for a sector of the childcare services - which are the responsibility of the government - and companies enter into cooperation with private day care centers to expand their services.

      @ 15% tax reduction of big enterprises, and 100% special reduction for small and medium business.

      @ The designation of the money spent on childcare facilities to the status of a legal donation defined by the law which covers infant care.

      @The equal aid benefit for kindergartens.

      @ Equal payment of childcare allowances to men and women workers, and the tax exemption of childcare expenses.

    5. The strengthening of education publicity activities for business and guidance from administration:

      First of all, counseling and information centers, that can provide adequate information on establishing childcare centers to companies and labor directive role of the Ministry of Labor administration should be strengthened.

      The administrational supervision of childcare within workplaces should be carried out systematically and continually by the Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for the problems of management and labor. The Ministry of Labor should take overall responsibility to oversee the childcare facilities within workplaces, and the expansion of childcare industry.

      However because the cooperation of the various ministries is necessary for the linking up of company and region, this should be carried out properly through the cooperation of ministries.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.13] Feature 1._ CELEBRATING THE MONTH OF EQUAL EMPLOYMENT

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:31
CELEBRATING THE MONTH OF EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
-Reports on Local WWAs-
Celebrating the Month of Equal Employment during October, each local WWA held a variety of activities such as conferences, talks and in particular sponsored surveys on women's working conditions and job searching activities. Below is the summary of those surveys.

WWA-Masan Changwon

Survey on VDT-suffering women workers and Suggestion for its prevention

  1. Survey Results

    The survey was conducted focusing on women workers, 83.2 percent of whom are in their twenties, working in the 13 electronics plants in Masan and Changwon areas.

    For the last number of years more and more workers have complained of VDT Syndrome, that is suffering pain on specific body parts such as shoulders. Though the VDT Syndrome is usually regarded as a disease mainly suffered by non-production office workers, production workers have increasingly reported suffering from the syndrome also.

    76.6 percent of the workers surveyed said their jobs are sedentary; 59 percent having to raise and lower their arms a movement that gives one's back a lot of burden; 39 percent having to use their wrists in and out very frequently; and 88.8 percent having to use their fingers often.

    This survey tells that the electronics workers perform highly repetitive jobs, using their specific body parts, which causes high frequency of the Cumulative Trauma Disorders among those workers.

    Among the workers surveyed, 85.7% feel some 'disorder' on the arms; 80.6% on the hands and wrists; 70.9% on the lower parts of the body; 69.2% on the back; 57% on the elbows; 54.9% on the neck; and 50.2% on the shoulders. Although the survey is based on the workers' subjective symptoms, its results show how the working conditions in the electronics industry, one of the dominating and female-intensive industries in Korea, poses threats to women's health as well as to the autonomy to their own bodies.

  2. Suggested Policies

    Such cumulative trauma disorder is not yet officially acknowledged as an occupation-related disease here in Korea.

    Although 'Guidelines for Workers Doing VDT-Related Jobs' has been added to the existing labor laws after the collective struggles of the telephone operators of the Korea Telecommunication, the guidelines are only applied to workers whose work is done mainly with computer terminals. This excludes most production workers whose labor process also makes them vulnerable to similar diseases to those of telephone operators.

    So, the WWA-Masan Changwon members urge the government and the legislators to expand the coverage of the Guidelines so that it can benefit all workers who suffer the same or similar pains regardless of their occupational boundaries.

    For this to be implemented, thorough and committed research on working conditions across occupations and industries must be conducted in advance.

WWA-Pusan

Survey on How to Increase the Employment Opportunities for Married Women

  1. Survey Results

    This survey was conducted not only to investigate the current employment situations of married women workers but also to find ways to enhance their employment opportunities.

    According to the survey, 85.1 % of the women surveyed said they started their employed work before their children attended the elementary school, and 97.2 % before their children graduated the elementary school. Although 43.7 % of the respondents who had working experiences before they married worked as clerical workers, they now work mostly as service workers (29.2%) or as production workers (24.5%).

    It is worth noticing that those women who are currently working as production workers show the least job satisfaction, and want to change their job into a more skilled and professional work.

    To the question of why they want to hold an employed job, 36.0 % answered 'for their economic independence', and 38.6 % 'for immediate economic needs.' The high percentage of the need for 'economic independence' shows us the fast growing job commitment among the married women workers.

    Most of the respondents of this survey said they want regular and stable employment rather than irregular and casual work, which disproves the conventional idea that married women prefer casual jobs, an idea especially held among employers and government officials. Women who responded they prefer casual jobs also said they too want to get a regular job if they can get access to appropriate childcare facilities.

    The survey also investigated the way employers think of married women as workers, and found out that there are some big differences between jobs the married women prefer and jobs the employers want to provide them with. Employers responded that they rarely intend to hire married women for managerial positions even if those women have the experience for the jobs.

    Employers said, however, they do not have any discriminatory policies on hiring married women as manufacturing production workers. On the contrary, managerial jobs are most preferred by married women while production jobs are least preferred.

  2. Suggested Policies

    The survey confirms that childbearing and housework responsibilities are the biggest obstacles against married women's access to employment outside home.

    Many women are still forced to quit their occupation when they get married or after they give birth to a baby. This is due to the lack of childcare facilities as well as to the direct or indirect discriminatory internal labor market policies.

    In order for married women to keep their wage earning jobs outside the home, a lot of policies and systems must be implemented. These include the extension of the existing maternity protection-related policies, a social and community-sponsored maternity protection system, welfare programs for paid maternity and childbearing leave, construction of more public childcare facilities as well as company-supported facilities, legal protection for part-time workers, and introduction of 'family nursing leave' system In addition, there are several more key policies needed for married women workers.

    Firstly, the central and local government should construct offices which would work exclusively to better women's employment.

    They must also have special and committed programs for occupational training for women, especially married women who are the most vulnerable group in the labor market. Secondly, the Labor Standard Law and the ILO ratified Homeworkers Protection Agreement should be extended to cover work places with less than 4 workers - where some 62.7% of married women work - and implemented so that women are more motivated to work on production lines in the factories without being threatened..

WWA-Kwangju

Survey on Gender Discriminatory Practices

  1. Survey Results

    This survey was conducted especially to investigate gender discriminatory practices regarding the personnel policies in the relatively large companies. These included five manufacturing companies, five financial businesses, and several press and broadcasting companies in the Kwangju area.

    According to the survey, 14.2 % of the women respondents said they had the common experience of being rejected for employment just because they were women. And 35.6 % responded that they have been given 'lower' positions than their male counterparts who had the same education level and work experiences as the women. There is no meaningful differences between production workers and non-production workers regarding these survey items.

    93.7 % of the respondents who are production workers said they are paid less than male workers because of the gender discriminatory wage system, while the figure for non-production workers was 41.7 %. Among the workers who said they are discriminated in terms of wage, 48.6 % reported the wage difference is less than 100,000 won; 40.6 %, 110,000 to 200,000 won; 5.4 %, 210,000 to 300,000 won; and another 5.4 % over 300,000 won.

    As for the reasons for the wage differences between women and men workers, 80.3 % of the women respondents referred to the Gender-Based Wage System as the key factor. And 14.5 % referred to gender differences in job positions, and 4.6 % to differences in job capabilities between women and men. These results strikingly show that the Gender-Based Wage System, a wage system which has become indisputably illegal since the enactment of Equal Employment Law in 1988, in practice still remains strong and is not being monitored.

    As for the promotion fairness between women and men, 65.0 percent responded that women are excluded from the opportunities for promotion mainly because only men are given chances for the so-called 'job-circulation programs' which is the number one condition for promotion in many companies. However, 14.7 percent of the women respondents said that, even though women too are given the job circulation programs in their companies, the contents of the programs are different from those for men workers. And, not surprisingly, such programs are often evaluated as 'not enough' for promotion.

    The extremely limited chances for promotion for women workers seem to play a great role in creating low level of job commitment among women workers. 26.1 percent of those women said they neither regard their current job as a life-time one, nor want to devote themselves to the job because of the lack of promotion, while 37.8 percent referred low pay as the key reason, and 18.5 percent referred to lack of maternity provisions.

  2. Suggested Policies

    As we have seen above, women in Kwangju are still facing a variety of gender discriminatory employment practices despite the fact that many of those practices are overtly illegal. The central and local governments should monitor those illegal practices thoroughly and encourage the companies to implement more affirmative employment policies for women workers.

    Trade unions also should exercise their responsibilities and role in realizing gender equality in labor markets. They should exert more efforts to educate not only women but also men workers about the gender issues, and to prioritize these issues among their union activities. In order to do so, the introduction of a women's quota system for trade unions' decision-making bodies needs to be considered.

Posted by KWWA
|

[vol.12] Working Women vol.12

WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:31

Working Women Vol.12

October, 1997

An-Seong Women's Industrial Masters' College is professional course for women, that is rare in Korea

    Feature
    Seven Tasks for Working Women's Labor Policy

    Voices from the Field
    Wooseok Electronics Democratic Labor Union flighted over a ghost labor union

    Hot line for Equality
    Unstable Employment - The Most Frequent
    Counselling Focus - Is Personnel Cut Justified? -

    Park, Min-na's life story
    From a housewife from Samchonpo to become a labor leader

    International Solidarity
    News indonesia

     News and Happenings

Korea Working Women's Network 1997
Posted by KWWA
|

티스토리툴바