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10 Years of the Employment Permit System,
Resident Migrant Workers Still in Slavery
August 17th: the Employment Permit System has been in operation for 10 years on this day.
The Employment Permit System was created for the purpose of overcoming the condemned evils of the 1991 Industrial Training System, which could be referred to as modern-day slavery. On August 16th 2003, laws were passed regarding employers and foreign workers, and one year later in 2004, the day of August 17th marked the full implementation of the Employment Permit System.
The Employment Permit System, created for the purpose of overcoming the past abuses, has passed 10 years since its implementation; however, this system has continued to be a matter of discrimination and exploitation for foreign workers.
Migrant workers refer to the Employment Permit System as, “The tears of the migrant workers.”
On the 12th of August, the four big religions of Korea held a joint press conference at Gwanghwamun demanding for the abolition of the Employment Permit System as well as the abuse of migrants.
In the joint press conference, religious people demanded: withdrawal of the system wherein migrant workers can only receive severance pay after returning to their home country; guarantee of migrant workers’ freedom of movement between places of work; conversion of the Employment Permit System into a Labor Permit System; and immediate implementation of Human Rights Commission’s advice in regard to migrant workers engaged in the industries of agriculture, livestock and fisheries .
These people stressed that, “Even though the UN also recommends amending laws and regulations so that migrant workers’ may maintain all their rights in the midst of changing their work placement, the government ignores this.” They also urged that, “The laws that treat people as tools and make people into slaves must disappear.”
Present at the press conference, Rev. Kim Eun Young (Chair of Migrant Workers Small Committee of the NCCK) said, “The 10 years of the Employment Permit System was a time of discrimination and exploitation of migrant workers.” Also he stated that, “We strongly condemned the law that seriously violates human rights simply because of the color of a face or the difference of language.”
Udaya Lae (Chair of the Emergency Task Force of the Migrant Workers Union) said, “The expectations of migrant workers were very high that the Employment Permit System would improve the abuses of the Industrial Training System which did not treat workers as workers. However, after 10 years, rather than improvement we are gradually returning to the Industrial Training System.”
The biggest change to the Industrial Training System that the Employment Permit System was supposed to provide was that migrant workers would acquire the status of “laborer.” Under the first Industrial Training System, their status as “laborers” was not recognized so the Labor Standards Act did not apply.
Especially, the most striking toxin of the Industrial Training System was the inequality in contract terms and the fact they were unable to move to another place of employment over the space of three years.
Surely, the application of the Employment Permit System which began in 2004 was the way to improve the toxic provisions. However, Seok Won-Jung, the representative of the Group for Foreign Migrant Workers’ Rights stated, “Up to now, there has not been much difference between the Industrial Training Program and the Employment Permit System.”
The Employment Permit System has been enforced and for several years there were certainly only one-year contracts. However, after some time has passed, they are making their contracts in their home countries for three-year contracts and then they come to Korea. It is the same as the Industrial Training Program. Also, these employment contracts are written up using the Standard Labor Contract rather than the Special Labor Contract. In these contracts there is only basic information such as hours of work and wages. There is no specific information about what the migrants workers will be in charge of, so the workers can find out what work they will do only after arriving in Korea.
Migrant workers mainly perform simple jobs. That is why keeping the probationary period is only a means for cutting wages. At the time of the first Industrial Training System, the probationary period of one year was reduced from six months down to three months through the struggle of the human rights organizations and migrant workers. Under the Employment Permit System, these same ways of sneaking in wage cuts are wriggling through the system again.
Migrant Workers and human rights organizations have argued that from the end of July, with the implementation of receipt of severance pay after exiting the country, this same context has emerged.
The chair of the Emergency Committee for Migrant Workers’ Rights, Udaya Lae, has said, “I want to let the Korean government know that oppression is not the only way to address these issues. Please struggle together with us so that migrant workers can live in this land with equality.” |
