À̸§: Don Kirk
2002/5/31(±Ý) 11:50 (MSIE6.0,Windows98) 134.95.38.184 1024x768
Dirty work, bad pay and no defense  
Friday, May 31, 2002 International Herald Tribune

SEOUL When Kabir Uddim got into an argument with his employer at the furniture factory where he was working about 60 kilometers southeast of here, his boss wielded a threat that Kabir was powerless to combat.
.
"The boss only had to say, 'You are an illegal worker, I will call the police,'" said Kabir. "If they don't like you or close the factory on you, you have to leave."
.
For about 260,000 foreigners working without visas in South Korea, there is no defense against underpayment, late payment and nonpayment, no insurance and almost no legal protection. They go on working, however, usually with the knowledge of the authorities, largely because they do jobs that most South Koreans do not want, for far less than Koreans would be willing to accept.
.
"There are 2,000 workers in my factory," said Kabir, a slightly built man in his 30s, with a quick smile, who came to South Korea from Bangladesh six years ago and has been living most of the time in a single room that he rents near the factory. "Most of us are illegal migrants. When a little police car came into our factory, all of us ran into the nearby mountains. Then we came back."
.
Occasional perfunctory roundups by the police and immigration officials, however, rank almost as minor problems compared to what workers describe as the tyranny of bosses who typically pay them about $600 a month, $200 less than a South Korean would make for the same menial work.
.
"In many cases the work is 3D - dirty, difficult and dangerous," said Mark Gabriel, who came here two years ago from the Philippines to assist in an organization set up to help illegal workers, about half of whom are ethnic Koreans smuggled here from China. "Nobody else wants to do it. Those jobs are shunned by Korean workers."
.
"Furniture work is always difficult," Kabir said.
.
Thousands of foreign workers also are employed in the electronics industry, performing such chores as injecting plastic in the molding for the cases that contain electronic products, including household appliances. Several thousand migrant workers, largely invisible even to the foreign workers' organization, are farm laborers.
.
As the South Korean economy grows, however, so does the need for foreign workers. About 340,000 foreign workers are now in South Korea, including about 80,000 who are in the country legally, and the number is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. There are about 36,000 migrant workers from Bangladesh, 20,000 from the Philippines, with the rest from most other Asian countries.
.
The Labor Ministry has adopted a policy under which workers without visas may remain in the country during an amnesty program under which they did not have to pay fines. Television programs have shown officials routinely stamping passports with amnesty permits.
.
Officials acknowledged that the problem was growing, however, and seemed uncertain how to deal with it.
.
"It's very difficult," said Lee Dae Jung, deputy director of the international cooperation division in the labor ministry. "Our position is to protect all workers, including Koreans as well as foreigners, but they are very scared their status will be exposed if they are here illegally."
.
Kim Han Jun, an immigration officer at the Justice Ministry, said the government had done what it could to help the workers.
.
"We have given amnesty for one year," he said. "If they report for amnesty, they can stay here another year and leave. Any foreigner who did not report voluntarily will be deported."
.
He was critical of foreign workers' efforts at publicizing their plight in rallies and demonstrations. "They do not have the right to protest," he said. "They are here illegally. They have to follow law and order. They did not follow procedure. Nobody in the world would like that."
.
The foreign workers organization, Equality Trade Union-Migrant Branch, asserted, however, that the amnesty program "entrenches systemic injustice to the migrants by making it impossible to organize for fear of losing their jobs and being legally forced to leave the country as a result." Yi Yoon Joo, a Korean who is chief of the union, pointed out the contrast between the warm welcome that the South Korean authorities are giving visitors to the World Cup soccer finals that open here Friday and the treatment of foreign workers.
.
"It is very ironic that the Korean government is feverishly promoting a 'friendship with foreigners and tourists' campaign," she said, "considering their unjust attack on foreign workers upon which the Korean economy heavily depends."
.
South Korean workers have been notoriously unsympathetic with the plight of foreign workers, sometimes accusing them of influencing employers to lower wages for everyone, and on occasion viewing them as rivals for jobs. Nonetheless, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the umbrella organization with which the foreign workers' union is loosely affiliated, expressed formal support.
.
"We have a lot of concern for migrant workers," said Paik Sun Whan, chairman of the confederation emergency committee. "Many workers in factories feel the migrant workers are taking jobs away, but our idea is different. We have to help. We will propose a new law about migrant workers."
.
The foreign workers union said, however, that the authorities still did not view foreign workers, including those who are recruited abroad and come here legally under "training" programs, as eligible for the same protection as South Korean workers. Although they have not attempted to close the foreign workers' organization, Gabriel said, the authorities intimidate workers who have participated in rallies at factories and at the Myongdong Cathedral in central Seoul.
.
"Immigration officers go to our factory and say, 'If you go to the rally, I must crack down on you,'" Kabir said. "They say they will arrest people and kick us out. They would like to destroy our movement."
.
If migrant workers are picked up by the police, Gabriel said, they are likely to spend a week or so in jail before expulsion to their home country. Anyone without funds for a ticket may be held for two or three months until finally getting the money from a friend in South Korea or back home. Otherwise, very reluctantly, immigration authorities may provide a one-way ticket.
.
Departures are complicated by the practice among employers of asking workers on their payrolls to surrender their passports. Employers typically turn them over to the immigration authorities, who return them to the embassies of the countries that issued them. Embassies have been known to destroy them, demanding that workers apply for new ones.
.
"It's a strategy to get more money," Kabir said. "Everyone insults foreigners." < < Back to Start of Article SEOUL When Kabir Uddim got into an argument with his employer at the furniture factory where he was working about 60 kilometers southeast of here, his boss wielded a threat that Kabir was powerless to combat.
.
"The boss only had to say, 'You are an illegal worker, I will call the police,'" said Kabir. "If they don't like you or close the factory on you, you have to leave."
.
For about 260,000 foreigners working without visas in South Korea, there is no defense against underpayment, late payment and nonpayment, no insurance and almost no legal protection. They go on working, however, usually with the knowledge of the authorities, largely because they do jobs that most South Koreans do not want, for far less than Koreans would be willing to accept.
.
"There are 2,000 workers in my factory," said Kabir, a slightly built man in his 30s, with a quick smile, who came to South Korea from Bangladesh six years ago and has been living most of the time in a single room that he rents near the factory. "Most of us are illegal migrants. When a little police car came into our factory, all of us ran into the nearby mountains. Then we came back."
.
Occasional perfunctory roundups by the police and immigration officials, however, rank almost as minor problems compared to what workers describe as the tyranny of bosses who typically pay them about $600 a month, $200 less than a South Korean would make for the same menial work.
.
"In many cases the work is 3D - dirty, difficult and dangerous," said Mark Gabriel, who came here two years ago from the Philippines to assist in an organization set up to help illegal workers, about half of whom are ethnic Koreans smuggled here from China. "Nobody else wants to do it. Those jobs are shunned by Korean workers."
.
"Furniture work is always difficult," Kabir said.
.
Thousands of foreign workers also are employed in the electronics industry, performing such chores as injecting plastic in the molding for the cases that contain electronic products, including household appliances. Several thousand migrant workers, largely invisible even to the foreign workers' organization, are farm laborers.
.
As the South Korean economy grows, however, so does the need for foreign workers. About 340,000 foreign workers are now in South Korea, including about 80,000 who are in the country legally, and the number is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. There are about 36,000 migrant workers from Bangladesh, 20,000 from the Philippines, with the rest from most other Asian countries.
.
The Labor Ministry has adopted a policy under which workers without visas may remain in the country during an amnesty program under which they did not have to pay fines. Television programs have shown officials routinely stamping passports with amnesty permits.
.
Officials acknowledged that the problem was growing, however, and seemed uncertain how to deal with it.
.
"It's very difficult," said Lee Dae Jung, deputy director of the international cooperation division in the labor ministry. "Our position is to protect all workers, including Koreans as well as foreigners, but they are very scared their status will be exposed if they are here illegally."
.
Kim Han Jun, an immigration officer at the Justice Ministry, said the government had done what it could to help the workers.
.
"We have given amnesty for one year," he said. "If they report for amnesty, they can stay here another year and leave. Any foreigner who did not report voluntarily will be deported."
.
He was critical of foreign workers' efforts at publicizing their plight in rallies and demonstrations. "They do not have the right to protest," he said. "They are here illegally. They have to follow law and order. They did not follow procedure. Nobody in the world would like that."
.
The foreign workers organization, Equality Trade Union-Migrant Branch, asserted, however, that the amnesty program "entrenches systemic injustice to the migrants by making it impossible to organize for fear of losing their jobs and being legally forced to leave the country as a result." Yi Yoon Joo, a Korean who is chief of the union, pointed out the contrast between the warm welcome that the South Korean authorities are giving visitors to the World Cup soccer finals that open here Friday and the treatment of foreign workers.
.
"It is very ironic that the Korean government is feverishly promoting a 'friendship with foreigners and tourists' campaign," she said, "considering their unjust attack on foreign workers upon which the Korean economy heavily depends."
.
South Korean workers have been notoriously unsympathetic with the plight of foreign workers, sometimes accusing them of influencing employers to lower wages for everyone, and on occasion viewing them as rivals for jobs. Nonetheless, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the umbrella organization with which the foreign workers' union is loosely affiliated, expressed formal support.
.
"We have a lot of concern for migrant workers," said Paik Sun Whan, chairman of the confederation emergency committee. "Many workers in factories feel the migrant workers are taking jobs away, but our idea is different. We have to help. We will propose a new law about migrant workers."
.
The foreign workers union said, however, that the authorities still did not view foreign workers, including those who are recruited abroad and come here legally under "training" programs, as eligible for the same protection as South Korean workers. Although they have not attempted to close the foreign workers' organization, Gabriel said, the authorities intimidate workers who have participated in rallies at factories and at the Myongdong Cathedral in central Seoul.
.
"Immigration officers go to our factory and say, 'If you go to the rally, I must crack down on you,'" Kabir said. "They say they will arrest people and kick us out. They would like to destroy our movement."
.
If migrant workers are picked up by the police, Gabriel said, they are likely to spend a week or so in jail before expulsion to their home country. Anyone without funds for a ticket may be held for two or three months until finally getting the money from a friend in South Korea or back home. Otherwise, very reluctantly, immigration authorities may provide a one-way ticket.
.
Departures are complicated by the practice among employers of asking workers on their payrolls to surrender their passports. Employers typically turn them over to the immigration authorities, who return them to the embassies of the countries that issued them. Embassies have been known to destroy them, demanding that workers apply for new ones.
.
"It's a strategy to get more money," Kabir said. "Everyone insults foreigners."
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24   Dirty work, bad pay and no defense   Don Kirk   05/31-11:50  3133
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