CINA

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Act to Stop Repression against MTU! 

-The South Korean Immigration Office has cancelled MTU President Michel Catuira’s visa and ordered him to leave the country by March 7.
-This is yet the last in a long series of acts of repression against MTU!

Please tell the South Korean government to repeal the cancellation of President Catuira’s visa and refrain from deporting him, and to stop repression against MTU and recognize its legal union status by:
 

-Sending letters of protest to the relevant South Korean government agencies (addresses at the end of this email)
-Organizing protests in front of a local South Korean Embassy or Consulate
 

All actions should take place before 7 March 2011. Please send reports of any actions and pictures if possible to migrant@jinbo.net. We will announce international actions at a protest in front of the Seoul Immigration Service building on 4 March 2011.
 

Please contact Wol-san Liem (82-10-5003-8419, limwolsan@gmail.com) with any questions.
 

Background

In 2009, Michel Catuira was elected president of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants Trade Union (MTU), a union established for and by migrant workers in South Korea. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers in South Korean society. He has spoken out against restrictions placed on migrant workers’ freedom to change workplaces and other problems in Employment Permit System (EPS), which make migrant workers subservient to their employers. He has also fought for the repeal of the South Korean government’s policy of arrest, detention and deportation of undocumented migrant workers, which has led to countless injuries, deaths and other human rights abuses.
 

Because he has been a vocal critic of unjust policies, the South Korean government has made President Catuira the subject of an unfair investigation with the ultimate goal of making him deportable. The nature of the investigation, which began in July 2010, is as follows:
 

By law, President Catuira, a documented EPS Filipino migrant worker, must be employed in order to maintain his legal residence status. President Catuira was lawfully employed by D company in fulfillment of this requirement. In July 2010, however, the Ministry of Employment and Labor summoned him and his employer for questioning, raising suspicions about the validity of their employment relationship. Finding no legal problem, the center continued to pressure President Catuira through his employer by sending a notice to the employer telling him to file to have President Catuira transferred to a different company.
 

Pressure increased in the wake of MTU activities protesting the death of the Vietnamese migrant worker as the result of an immigration raid. On 23 November 2010, President Catuira received a summons from the Seoul Immigration Service telling him to appear before the Immigration Service’s investigation team to be questioned based on “suspicion of violations of the Immigration Control Law in the course of applying for a workplace transfer and with relation to actual performance of work duties at present.” Inquiry by a lawyer working with MTU revealed that the investigation team was also considering raising suspicions that President Catuira was conducting political activities in violation of the Immigration Control Law. On 2 December 2010, the Ministry of Employment and Labor sent a fax to President Catuira’s employer, notifying him that his permit to employ migrant workers had been cancelled. On 22 December 2010, President Catuira appeared before the Immigration Service investigation team, who question him for roughly 5 hours on the nature of his employment.
 

On 14 February 2011, the Immigration Service informed President Catuira through his lawyer that his visa had been cancelled as of 10 February 2011 at that he was required to leave the country by 7 March 2011. The grounds given for the cancellation of the visa are as follows: that the company where President Catuira was employed did not in exist; that President Catuira was not in fact working at the factory and that, therefore, he was in violation of Article 89.1 of the Immigration Control Act. Article 89.1 states that a visa can be cancelled if it is found to have been obtained in a deceitful or other unlawful manner.
 

Facts of the Case

Contrary to the Immigration Service’ claims, President Catuira went through all of the necessary legal procedures before being employed at D company. As required, President Catuira received a list of companies registered to hire migrant workers from a Ministry of Employment and Labor Job Center. D company was on this list. After being hired, President Catuira against followed the correct legal procedures, registering his employment status with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Immigration Service.
 

The claim that D company does not exist is also not true. D company had little work after President Catuira was hired, and thus had to shut is door temporarily. However, this cannot be said to be President Catuira’s fault. In fact, during the original investigation in July 2010, the Ministry of Employment and Labor found no violation of the law and could respond only with a memo suggesting that President Catuira move to another workplace. Nonetheless, the Immigration Service went out of its way to find grounds for cancelling President Catuira’s visa so as to make it possible to deport him.
 

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and Immigration Service’s investigations of President Catuira were carried out in a manner completely outside these agencies’ normal mode of operation. If the South Korean government routinely investigated the companies where migrant workers are employed in such detail, it would find widespread violations including unpaid wages, sexual harassment, failure to submit proper documents, etc. If such investigations were made, perhaps the situation of migrant workers in South Korea would actually improve. Instead of doing this sort of work, however, these government agencies have used their time to target MTU’s president. 
 

Another act of Labor Repression

The investigation and cancellation of Catuira’s visa are nothing more than an attempt to attack MTU and stop its rightful union activities. This attempt is similar to past acts of repression against MTU, in which the South Korean government used the vulnerable immigration status of migrant officers to prevent their union activities, in particular through arrest and deportation. Since MTU was founded in 2005, the government has arrested 6 of its officers, supposedly for violations of Immigration Control Act. Of these 6, 5 were deported. In addition, the South Korean government has refused to recognize MTU’s status as a legal union, claiming that its founders, who were undocumented, do not have the right to freedom of association granted all workers under the South Korean Constitution.
 

The situation is so severe, that the ILO has issued several recommendations recognizing the arrest and deportation of MTU officers as acts of labor repression and suggesting that they be stopped immediately. The ILO has also affirmed the right of all migrant workers, regardless of visa status, to freedom of association and recommended that the South Korean government recognize MTU’s legal union status.
 

Our Demands:
-Repeal the cancellation of Michel Catuira’s visa and guarantee his secure residence status!
-Stop repression against MTU officers and recognize MTU’s legal union status! 
-Stop racist and discriminatory measures taken against migrant workers such as arrests and deportations!
 

A sample protest letter follows.
Protest letters can be sent to addresses below:
 

Chief Commissioner of the Korea Immigration Service
Seok Dong-hyeon
Korea Immigration Service
New-Core Building, 8th Floor
Byeolyang-dong
Gwacheon City
Gyeonggi Province 427-705
Republic of Korea
Fax: +82-2-500-9097
 

Minister of Justice
LEE Kwi-nam    
Ministry of Justice
Gwacheon Government Complex, building 5
Jungang-dong 1
88 Gwanmoon-ro
Gwacheon City
Gyeonggi Province 427-720
Republic of Korea            
Fax: +82-2-503-7023
webmaster@moj.go.kr
 

Minister of Employment and Labor
Bahk Jae-won    
Ministry of Employment and Labour
Gwacheon Government Complex, building 1
88 Gwanmoon-ro
Gwacheon City
Gyeonggi Province 427-718
Republic of Korea
Fax:+82-2-3679-6581
Molab506@moel.go.kr
 

----Sample letter----
 

Dear:
 

We recently learned that the Seoul Immigration Service has cancelled the visa of Michel Catuira, President of the Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants Trade Union (MTU), and ordered him to leave South Korea by 3 March 2011. The Immigration Service gives as grounds for these measures that Catuira entered into a false employment relationship with a company that does not in fact exist. Therefore, it says, Catuira is in violation of the Immigration Control Act, which requires migrant workers to be employed by a registered company in order to maintain their residence status. Contrary to the Immigration Service’s claims, Catuira went through all of the necessary legal procedures before being hired at the company in question. There is nothing false or unlawful about his employment relationship.
 

The fact is that the company in question had little work after President Catuira was hired, and thus had to shut is door temporarily. However, this cannot be said to be Catuira’s fault and is not grounds for cancellation of his visa.
 

The investigation of President Catuira was completely contrary to the Immigration Service and Ministry of Employment and Labor’s normal mode of operation. If the South Korean government routinely investigated the companies where migrant workers are employed in such detail, it would find widespread violations such as unpaid wages and sexual harassment. If such investigations were made, perhaps the situation of migrant workers in South Korea would actually improve. Instead of doing this sort of work, however, these government agencies have used their time to target MTU’s president. 
 

The cancellation of Catuira’s visa is nothing more than an attempt to attack MTU and stop its rightful union activities. This attempt is similar to past acts of repression against MTU, in which the South Korean government used the vulnerable immigration status of migrant officers to prevent their union activities, in particular through arrest and deportation. The situation is so severe, that the ILO has issued several recommendations recognizing the arrest and deportation of MTU officers as acts of labor repression and suggesting that they be stopped immediately. The ILO has also affirmed the right of all migrant workers, regardless of visa status, to freedom of association and recommended that the South Korean government recognize MTU’s legal union status.
 

We urgently make the following demands:
 

-Repeal the cancellation of Michel Catuira’s visa and guarantee his secure residence status!
-Stop repression against MTU officers and recognize MTU’s legal union status! 
-Stop racist and discriminatory measures taken against migrant workers such as arrests and deportations!
 

Sincerely,

http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=90152#2

For more info please check out MTU's facebook site!

Related article:
☞ Migrant union leader balks at departure order (Korea Times, 2.18)

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Stop the Deportation Process Against MTU's President

MTU issued y'day the following statement:

Denunciation of the Cancellation of the Migrants' Trade Union Chairperson's EPS Visa Status

 
The order for departure for Migrants’ Trade Union Leader Michel is the cutting off of the tongue of the migrant worker who speaks out and the tying of the hands and feet of the fighting migrant worker and is a clear oppression of the activities of workers unions!! This order must be cancelled and his stay guaranteed.

The Seoul Immigration Office, on the 10th of February, has cancelled Migrants’ Trade Union Chairperson Michel’s EPS visa status and ordered him to leave the country, as per a February 14th official statement given to his lawyer. The Seoul  Immigration Office stated that “despite what is stated on the papers submitted when the work permit was given, the company of that address does not exist” and “it has been confirmed that activities undertaken during his stay was not work labor as a foreign worker and therefore does not adhere to the content submitted at the time of requesting change of work place” and was therefore cancelling his visa status and requiring him to leave before March 7th.

However, we denounce these official measures as oppression against legitimate Labor Union activity and in particular a targeted crackdown on its chairperson Michel. The government, in order to oppress the activities of the Migrants’ Trade Union, has already targeted, arrested by force and deported past union chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and secretariats. There have been no exceptions in these oppressive measures among any of the past Migrants’ Trade Union chairpersons or officers.

The Ministry of Labor exercised undue pressure several times on the company that hired Chairperson Michel, and  in the end canceled the employment permit of the business owner on December 1st. The Ministry of Justice then alleged the Chairperson had broken Immigration Law, and summoned him for questioning on December 22nd. The Ministry of Justice’s Office of Immigration claims Chairperson Michel falsely claimed employment.

This however is not true. The Ministry of Labor has already carried out an investigation under the same allegation (July 13th of last year) but could not come up with any proof of legal wrongdoing. At the time the Ministry of Labor sent official notice requesting the business owner to request a change in work place for the worker as the company was in de facto suspension of business. It was only much later in December when they one-sidedly canceled the company’s employment permit for the inadequate reason that it could not maintain labor relations because the business was in long-term suspension. This is in extreme contrast to the Ministry of Labor’s failure to investigate the pains suffered by migrant workers from unjust treatment from business owners and limitations on their rights.

It is not true that the company of the address does not exist, nor is it true that he did not engage in work labor. Chairperson Michel legally obtained recommendations and lists of businesses from the Ministry of Labor Job Center and after being hired, registered himself at the Job Center as well as at the immigration office. It only turned out there was not much work to be done at the workplace, and it was clear when being hired the business existed. It is not the laborer’s responsibility that the company has suspended business for not having enough work to do.

Therefore we think these allegations are an excuse to attack Chairperson Michel’s legitimate labor activity. He legally obtained a job without any wrongdoing, and to speak of labor union activity done on downtime as false employment is clearly an act of oppression. If the government applies as much scrutiny to workplaces, the labor conditions of migrant workers would be greatly improved.

We can only think their taking away of the Chairperson’s work permit by throwing these allegations at him is because the Migrants’ Trade Union Chairperson entered through the employment permit system(EPS) and has the legal right of stay, and therefore they cannot use the target crackdown investigation tactics they had on past officers of the Migrants’ Trade Union, and we condemn these acts as crude and shameful.

To not acknowledge even this much union activity is to cut the tongues of all migrant workers who speak out for their rights and to tie the hands and feet of those who act. The government seems to have shown they want “silent” and “obedient” slaves who “tolerate every exploitation and abuse.” This is also a great international humiliation for the Korean government which calls itself a human rights-abiding state.

Chairperson Michel has acted for the legitimate rights of migrant workers, as well as for the rights of various oppressed people such as irregular workers, people displaced by development, and sexual minorities. This is another kind of contribution to the advancement of Korean society.

The Seoul Immigration Office of the Ministry of Justice must cancel its order for departure and its cancellation of the Chairperson’s work permit and guarantee his stay in this country!

2011. 2. 15
Migrants’ Trade Union/Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(Seoul Regional Council)

http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=89286#0

Related statement:
☞ 이주노조 표적탄압 중단하고, 그 정성으로 인권보장에 나서보라 (KCTU, 2.16)

Related news reports:
☞ 출입국사무소, 미셸 이주노조 위원장 체류허가 취소 출국명령 (KHSM)
☞ 시민 노동계, 이주노조 위원장 출국반대 성명 연이어 (VoP)
☞ 이주노조 위원장되면 무조건 쫓겨난다? (Redian)
☞ 이주노조 위원장 출국반대 성명 잇따라 (SBS)
☞ 미셸 이주노조위원장 출국명령 (Hankyoreh)
 

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‎*MTU Korean Language Class: Every Sunday in Yanju (11:00am), Dongdaemun (11:00am) and Seongsu (4:00pm)

*MTU Computer Class: Every Sunday 1:00~3:00pm.
All migrant workers interested in learning about computers (hardware, software, internet, etc.) may... participate whenever they like.

 
*MTU Drama Class: We are preparing a class through which migrant workers can learn how to express their ideas and stories through acting. All interested are welcome.

 
If you are interested in any of the classes above (resp. for more detailed info) please call MTU at 02-2285-6068!

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The organizers and participants of yesterday's migrant workers rally (to mark the "Int'l Migrants Day") in Seoul adopted the following "2010 Declaration of the Human Rights of Migrants":

Towards a New World without Discrimination and Exploitation!

 
① In this country we have been given the name 'migrant'. This word has many meanings, which we did not choose ourselves. In addition to signifying someone who lived in another place and then migrated to South Korea, 'migrant' refers to someone who is the object of repression and exploitation in the workplace and discrimination and rejection in everyday life. Even worse, 'migrant' connotes a latent criminal and the target of policing, control and expulsion in the eyes of the South Korean government. In the past, we fought against these chains that bind us with our whole bodies and spirits. The more we looked for the key to unlock the lock on the chains, however, the deeper the key ring grasped in the hand of our oppressor became hidden in a maze.

20 years laced with discrimination and exploitation have now passed. After all of our resistance we have realized something. That only we, and no one else, can achieve our own freedom. That the key that can unlock the chains that bind us is not in the oppressors hand but in ours. That we can rewrite the meaning that Korean society has given to the name 'migrant'. This means that we can rewrite 'migrant' as beautiful.

 
② We firmly reject the idea that we must endure repression and exploitation. We reject the Employment Permit System (EPS), which gives power to the government and employers to grant us jobs but refuses us the rights to association, bargaining and collective action that in fact belong to all workers. As members of the Korean working class who know the value of our sweat and our labor, we declare our right to live as workers who freely choose their jobs. Short-term rotation policies, like the EPS, fail to take into account that migrants are people and are the origins of discrimination and human rights abuses. These policies treat migrants as tools of profit but denied us the right to live as human beings. The EPS is a barometer that reflects the perspective and atmosphere of South Korean society. We are already living in this land. The EPS, which denies this fact while also denying justice and the needs of Korean society must be abolished immediately.

 
③ We refuse to be the targets of policing and expulsion. We are not latent criminals. We are merely people seeking happiness for ourselves and our families. We have no intentions to cause harm to anyone. All human beings have the right to physical freedom and the right to defend that freedom. These rights must be protected. As such, we firmly reject the government's labeling of as us latent criminals. The government uses this label to justify its brutal crackdown against us, which it claims is necessary to maintain the safety of South Korean society and even to protect our human rights. We recognize, however, that these claims are simply a means to hide the fact that the government's actions are illegal and violate human rights. The indiscriminate, inhumane and life-threatening raids and deportations must stop immediately.

 
④ In the name of 3 million overseas Koreans we firmly reject discrimination against overseas Koreans from less-developed countries, which has become an absolute yardstick by which to measure South Korean. Some 350 thousand overseas Koreans from China and the countries of the former Soviet Union are living as migrants in South Korean society. Despite the fact that are all overseas Koreans, in South Korean society, the Act on Overseas Koreans applies fully to overseas Koreans from rich countries and only partially to those who come from poorer countries. The South Korean governments attempt to broaden the field of discrimination, which arises from its fixation on economic capacity, cannot but be an indicator of the state of society. As overseas Koreans and migrants we reject all efforts to keep us in field of discrimination and firmly demand our rights.

⑤ We demand our rights as workers and has women who have come to this country to live as members of families. We should not be denied rights as women and as workers because we are migrants. Women migrant workers must be allowed to reside safely in this country. Our rights must not be violated due to abuse of authority at the workplace or any other criminal designs. Protection of and redress for the violation of women migrant workers rights must be swift. The essential dignity of women who have migrated through marriage must be respected. We reject all attitudes that reduce women to a form of exchange value and reaffirm the fact that proper family life begins with respect for one's partner's culture. Marriage migrants have the right to respect and happiness based on true multiculturalism, not a false multiculturalism that means unilateral imposition of Korean culture.

We assert that all children in the country have equal rights. The government's attitude of singling out the children of multicultural families and refusing to recognize the children born of undocumented migrants equals discrimination against children. All children have the right to registration based on birth and to attain nationality, and these rights must not be violated simply because of the residence status of their parents. In fact, children should be given more protection and attention in the event that they lack a nationality. In particular, no child should be denied heath and education rights on the basis that he/she does not have a nationality. We also affirm that all children have the right to be raised in a healthy manner by their families, in particular their parents. All provisions that discrimination against children are illegal and must be abolished.

 
⑥ We demand that the government give immediate attention and protection to refugees and asylum seekers. We are concerned that applications for asylum are proceeded in a manner aimed at administrative ease rather than being based on rationality and fairness. The current system of reviewing applications is carried out in a manner overly dependent on international politics and the easy management of visas without consideration for human beings' basic right to life. We demand that the system be revised and ask that more visas be granted for humanitarian reasons. We wish to see South Korea become a place where individuals who flee persecution and discrimination can live with their rights respected. We also demand that the South Korean government ratify the International Convention on Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. We stress that equal protection of the rights of migrants and their families through the ratification of the Convention, which outlines concrete practices, is necessary if the advent of the age of muliculturalism is to be more than simply a noisy event.

We believe that our declaration is not only meaningful for us migrant workers, but will also help to make South Korean society more just, more fee and more beautiful. Our declaration is a dignified call to break the chains of discrimination and exploitation and build a new world through social solidarity.

  
● Stop discrimination against migrant workers and abolish restrictions on workplace transfers!

● Stop the crackdown and deportations and legalize all undocumented migrant workers

● Stop criminalization of migrant workers!

● Protect the rights of migrant women!

● Protect migrant children's health and education rights!

● Increase recognition of refugee status and protect refugees' rights!

● Fully implement the Act on Overseas Koreans and protect overseas Koreans' right to travel freely!

● Ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrants!

 
2010 International Migrants Day Assembly in S.Korea

http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=68800#0

PS: How can it be that there is not even one word about the current situation of MTU, resp. the ongoing policy of repression - conducted by the S.K. gov't (MoL/MoJ) - against MTU? Where is the demand to recognize and legalize the MTU???

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Today afternoon in downtown Seoul: Migrant workers and their supporters marked yesterday's "Int'l Migrants Day" with a protest rally...

"Braving frigid weather, more than 400 migrants and human rights activists called on the government to stop its crackdown on undocumented foreigners and overhaul the employment system to eliminate exploitation and discrimination against them within the workplace...", today's Korea Times reported.
 

Related reports:

☞ “이주노동자 착취의 사슬, 우리 손으로 끊겠다” (NewsCham)
☞ 'We are not human machines' (K. Times)
 

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Today's rally in front of Seoul's Immigration Office was organized in protest of the vicious crackdown that was held in preparation to the G-20 Summit which resulted in the death of a Vietnamese migrant worker(*).

* The related protest statement you can read here!

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"Congratulation to comrade Michelle and MTU to be the 1st migrant who become representative council member of KCTU. Long live MTU, long live solidarity. 투쟁."

(source: MTU's freeboard)

But-sad to say-until now there's no official statement, either from MTU or from KCTU!!
 

Related report:
☞ 민주노총 최초 이주노동자 대의원 된 미셀 위원장 (참세상, 10.6)