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KCTU published last week its..

Organizing Strategy of Migrant Workers in South Korea

1. General Situation of Migrant workers in South Korea

- Roughly 640,000 migrant workers
- roughly 220,000 undocumented
- roughly 420,000 documented
- Work in small to middle-size manufacturing companies, construction, service
- From 100+ countries, 30% women

2. Policy on Migrant Workers

- Documented migrant workers are regulated through the Employment Permit System
- 3-year short-term visa (1 year contracts renewed each year)
- restriction in changing workplaces
- usually very poor working conditions (low wages, long hours, night-time work, lack of rest days, verbal and physical abuse, etc.)
- government planning to reduce costs of employing migrant workers by placing part of meal and housing costs on workers and increasing training period (during which wages are lower than minimum)

- Undocumented workers: Since 2003 only policy is arrest, detention and deportation
- Crackdown brings everyday fear, injury and death in raids and human rights abuses
- Government proclaimed concentrated crackdown until end of the year- goal of arresting 20,000
- Working to strengthen crackdown through increased infrastructure, personnel and revision of immigration law

3. Organizing Strategies (separate migrant workers union, industrial union, local general unions)

1) Organizing through/into separate migrant workers trade union

- Case
* Seoul-Gyeonggi-Inchoen Migrants Trade Union (launched on April 24, 2005) (affiliated to KCTU)
* Most members are undocumented migrant workers.
* tried to register for legal union status but the government reject
* 1 Feb, 2007 High Court recognized that “undocumented migrants are also considered as workers who have rights to form and join a union.”
* Ministry of Labor has appeal to Supreme Court; decision expected before the end of the year
* KCTU filed a case to the ILO CFA
* Wide international support (unions, human rights organizations) for MTU’s legalization as a means to set a precedent for undocumented migrant workers freedom of association
- ITUC submitted amicus brief (analysis of international law pertaining to freedom of association) in MTU’s Supreme Court case

 
- Merits
* Avenue for migrant workers to fight for their rights themselves and become leaders of their own movement (all elected officers are migrant workers)  
* Paying more attention on the reform of related laws and systems (eg. EPS, Immigration law etc)
* More effective to raise the general problems on migrant workers socially

- Weaknesses
* difficulties to conduct normal trade union activities (eg. wage negotiation, collective bargaining)
* vulnerable status of undocumented leadership and members makes easy for government to attack

2) Organizing through/into Industry-level Union

Efforts are being made in the Metal Workers Union and the Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions

- Case
* Samwoo Precision Machinery Chapter of Daegu Local Branch of Korean Metal Workers’ Union
* In struggling to establish the chapter organizers realized the importance of including the migrant workers. Union shop rules were included in the first collective bargaining agreement so that all migrant workers became members. In result, 22 Indonesian migrant workers join the union in 2007.
* The CBA also applies to all union members regardless of their nationalities. (fundamentally pursuing equal remuneration for equal value of work)

- Merits
* normal trade union activities : collective bargaining, training etc.
* single unionism between local and migrant workers, builds solidarity between native and migrant workers.
* organizing documented workers

- Weaknesses
* difficulties in maintaining communication between local and migrant union members (esp. translation issue)
* concerns for shop floor organizing tends to mean pay less attention of mobilization to reform the related laws and systems (eg. EPS, Immigration Law)
* concerns that majority national workers act as proxy for minor migrant workers inside the union. In result, fails to increase the real awareness on the subject of rights amongst migrant workers and leadership of migrant workers
* concerns for TU to pay less attention on undocumented workers
* Most industrial unions not well-prepared to accept migrant workers

3) Organizing through/into local-based union

- Case
* Making efforts to organize migrant workers into local general union
* Case: Seongseo Industrial Complex General Union, migrant organizing department
- 50+ migrant members (Indonesia, Bangladesh, Filipino)
- Education, mobilizing on migrant issues
* Certain KCTU Regional Branches provide services for migrant workers on back wages and OHS matters, organizing large scale training course for both national and migrant workers

- Merits
* Can pay more attention to migrant worker education and training
* Can foster integration between native and migrant workers
* Can pay more attention to undocumented migrant workers in small and medium sized companies that the industry-level unions cannot reach

-  Weaknesses
* limitations in terms of raise the policy issues related to migrant workers on a national level.
* General lack of resources in local unions makes expansion of organizing difficult

3. Conclusions

 All 3 organizing strategies have merits and weaknesses. Need to assess which one is appropriate in what conditions and find a way to implement and coordinate all 3.

 Role of National Center in coordinating 3 organizing strategies should be greatly emphasized.

 Need create a system for communication and building unity between migrant workers in all types of unions so they can express their demands in a way that their voice will not be excluded or ignored

4. Future Tasks

- Need to enhance efforts to provide basic services including education, training and educational materials in mother languages related to labour laws for migrant workers. The goal of these would be to increase class consciousness and rights consciousness amongst migrant workers so that they can become actors demanding their rights for themselves. 

- Need to organize training and education courses for native workers so they become familiar with the conditions of migrant workers and come to consider the issues of migrant workers as their own (eg. Regular education course on migrant workers rights for native workers, regular opportunities for migrant workers and native workers to come together)

- Mobilization for the purpose of reforming the related laws and systems including EPS and Immigration law so as to create unionization-friendly circumstance for migrant workers

- Increased intervention in the official migration process implemented by the South Korean government and governments in countries of origin so as to organize documented workers under the Employment Permit System.

- Building more systematic structure for organizing migrant workers and dealing with migrant workers issues at every level including national center, industry-level union and regional branches.

- Strengthening cooperation with trade unions of origin countries so as to organize migrant workers more effectively. 
 

KCTU's "Organizing Strategy.." paper (word document) you can download here!