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PICIS Newsletter #82
Edited by the PICIS Newsletter Team
Published by the Policy and Information Center for International
Solidarity
March 30th, Friday, 2001
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Contents:
Editor's Note: We at the PICIS Newsletter team were probably not the only ones that were reminded of the Reagan and Thatcher administration brutally cracking down on the air traffic controllers strike and the miner's strike in the 70's and 80's as we saw how the Kim Dae-Jung government brutally attacked the strike of the Daewoo Motors workers. The workers and their supporters are still struggling valiantly as we approach the National People's Rally, and we bring you a follow up on the situation in our Headline section. Many social movements have come to support the Daewoo struggle with many different products, one of which will surely be useful to you. Independent media activists have opened up an English site (http://cast.jinbo.net/english/) which is action packed with video and audio clips(in English!) from the struggles of the last month and a half. Please visit and send us your opinions. There were other struggles as well, as the International Solidarity section briefs you on the different actions that were taken on International Women's Day. Our In-Depth Look section makes us reflect upon an issue that is too often neglected: that of the migrant workers. As always, we welcome any comments, questions, or opinions.
Over a month has passed since the management of Daewoo Motors layed off more than 1700 workers, and the government sent riot police into the factory to forcefully break up the strike of the trade union. Workers at Daewoo, family members of layed off workers, trade unionists from the affiliates Korean Federation of Metal Workers and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, students, and social movement activists have been involved in the struggle against layoffs and the attack by police for the same period. This current struggle is perhaps the most intense and violent show of resistance on the part of the working class during the last few years. Molotov cocktails have reappeared(on numerous occasions) for the first time since the Seoul Subway union strike of 99, thousands of protestors have regularly taken part in the numerous demonstrations, and the struggle is continuing despite brutal oppression from the government and police. The Joint Struggle Committee Against Daewoo Motors, compromised of various social and people's organizations, has been formed to coordinate and organize support for the struggle. It has been actively involved in organizing the demonstrations and counteracting the government's oppressive measures, while also propagating the struggle both nationally and internationally. The Struggle Committee dispatched the Kim Woo-Choong Arrest squad to France last month, the squad carried out the arrest campaign in the country where the Kim was suspected of hiding as well as meeting with progressive French activists and politicians, letting their cause known and gathering support for the struggle. Kim Woo-Joong, president of the company, remains in hiding abroad despite an arrest warrant on charges of embezzlement and fraud being put out on him last month. The government and police have been passive, to say the least, in its efforts to arrest Kim. A Joint Independent Media Group has also been formed to broadcast the struggles of the Struggle Committee free from the distortion of the mainstream media. A Culture Festival for the family members of the dismissed workers has also been held and a public hearing session, together with scholars, politicians, and citizens of the In-Chon area will be held soon to discuss the affects that the layoffs and closing of the factory will have on the region.
The KCTU, of which the Daewoo Motors Trade Union is a part of, has rightfully declared this struggle a struggle for the entire working class, and has taken measures to target not just the management of Daewoo Motors, but the neo-liberal restructuring plan of the government as well. The Joint Struggle Committee is continuing to hold rallies and will carry the struggle on to the National People's Rally scheduled on the 31st of this month and beyond.
Perhaps it is too early for an evaluation of this struggle but several points are clear at this point, even as the struggle continues. The struggle was successful in again laying bare the brutal anti-working class and anti-people stance of the Kim Dae-Jung government. Suppression of basic civil rights have been denied the workers by the police. The area around the Daewoo factory and the nearest subway station have been reminiscent of the dictatorships of the 70s and 80s, as hundreds(sometimes thousands) of policemen in riot gear have been stationed to prevent demonstrations. It almost seems a state of martial law is in effect as any sort of gathering has been violently beaten down. Demonstrators have had to evade police and move to different sites to hold rallies. The struggle was also carried out at a more broader scope and at more levels than ever before, as independent media activists, international solidarity activists, students, family members of the dismissed workers, progressive party activists, telecommunications activists, besides the union workers and social movement activists, all have joined the struggle.
Prospects for the struggle are not optimistic however, as the remaining workers have returned to the assembly line since the 8th, despite actions to block it. The core subject of the struggle, which should have been the Daewoo Motors Trade Union, has for the most part not been able to pull its weight, which has led to the struggle relying too heavily on outside support. The reasons for this are too intricate to go into, but without a reliable nucleus, the struggle is slowly loosing momentum despite the efforts of many who are currently engaged in it.
It is still too early to predict the results, as the leadership is planning to carry the struggle through the people's rally on the 31st and to the May Day struggles. We will be continuing to bring you updates on the Daewoo struggles.
For more information visit the site of the Joint Struggle Committee at : http://dwtubon.nodong.net/english/
Different scenes of International Women's Day
There were several International Women's Day celebrations and rallies this year in Korea. On 4th March, the Korea Women's Associations United, a federation of major NGOs and civic organizations hosted their annual Women's Day celebration inside a fancy hall. Several VIP's came to congratulate the event, including several parliament members and government officials. The First Lady also gave her message through a camera. The admission fee which was collected at the entrance was probably needed to maintain the standard of grand event.
There were of course, alternative celebrations that brought light to the true spirit of the day that 15,000 women workers marched through New York back in 1908. The Korea Women Workers Associations United, the umbrella of women workers' organizations, together with the Korea Women's Trade Union started their bus tour on 3rd March, and travelled all around Korea holding small rallies and cultural festivals in 9 major cities during 10 days. They called for the abolishment of part-time work and the application of Labour Laws to contract workers - the end to the devastating consequences of IMF restructuring that struck the Korean women workers.
Some groups celebrated diversity on the 8th March. Lesbians, women workers, students, disabled women were just some of the 100 women who gathered together in central Seoul. Although small in number, they blocked a lane and marched through the busiest part of Seoul. It was a fresh struggle compared to the previous reformism and homogeneity that had blocked the voices of women at the very bottom of society, those who tend to be forgotten even by those who think themselves at the 'vanguard' of the women's movement.
The Korea Confederation of Trade Unions also played its part. KCTU hosted the National Women Workers' Rally on the 10th, where around 1,000 women workers gathered under their union flags. The speeches were filled with horrifying stories of the oppression and exploitation of women under the IMF's prescription and the Kim government. Lay-offs, transfers to part-time work and the attempt to abolish or decrease maternity and menstrual leave were the main targets of the rally.
The fact that 4 different events and rallies took place may seem somewhat ineffective, and organizational egoism did play a part. Nevertheless, the divisions shown during the International Women's Day contributed to drawing a definite line with elitism and revisionism - always present inside the women's movement but never thoroughly opposed.
Currently in Korea, migrant workers are being forcefully deported and being subject to the enforcement of unjust regulations. About 30,000 migrant workers, including 18,000 unregistered and illegal migrants, make a living in Korea. There exists about 130 million migrant workers world wide, and a vast majority of them live without the proper legal and social protection. As is already well known, neo-liberalism ties up the workers of the third world into a state of permanent or potential unemployment. As a result, these workers cross the border in search of work. From the early days of capitalism to the end of the Second World War, migrant work existed. The 80s and 90s is when the modern concept of migrant work started to emerge. What differentiates the 'modern' migrant worker from the previous concepts is the fact that these are a result of the economic inequality between nations and regions, although it may look on the surface as a result of personal and voluntary action.
Neo-liberal migrant wok first appeared in Korean society in the early 90s. At the time, the power of the working class in Korea was on the rise after the Great Workers' Struggle of 87. Such conditions made exploitation at the previous rate impossible. Capital responded by moving to utilize migrant workers as low-wage labor, and the government gave into pressure from capital by allowing the 'industrial trainee system' in October of 91, which is a anomalous form of attracting foreign labor. Unregistered, illegal migrant workers were issued short term visas starting in 92. As a result, for the last 10 years, legal slave trainees have taken up 30% and illegal workers have taken up 70% of the migrant work force.
The industrial trainee system in Korea is the modern version of migrant slave labor. There wages range from 100-200 dollars, and this is paid as they leave the country. They are forced to work long and extra hours under dangerous conditions. They are often restricted from going out or meeting outside people. Furthermore, illegal unregistered workers, because of their unstable status, cannot resist against exploitation and live every day in constant fear of being deported.
In 95, workers from Nepal tied themselves up with chains at Myung-Dong Cathedral and declared that they too were human, that they too were workers, against the exploitation of capital. This was the first time in Korea that the premodern conditions(such as the delayed payment of wages, dangerous working conditions, and no compensation for working accidents)that migrant workers had to face came to the surface. In reality, since these workers were from the start were regarded as 'cheap labor,' human rights and labor rights were never considered.
The fact that the Korean government considered migrant workers as nothing more than dispensible items was revealed through the IMF economic crisis of 97-98. Through the enforcement of harsh deportation programs, 70% of migrant workers in Korea were deported. The 300,000 workers were reduced to 100,000 and the remaining 100,000 had to endure the pain of increased control and unemployment. Faced with the rise in unemployment from 2% to 5% and wide-spread resistance from the Korean people, the government had pointed the arrow toward the migrant workers to evade the situation. However, as the Kim government met the requirements of the IMF by privatizing public corporations and instituting layoffs, the economy seemed to temporarily recover due to the inflow of foreign capital, and the influx of migrant workers again increased. There are currently 270,000 migrant workers in Korea. Such treatment of migrant workers(attracting them when they have value, and cruelly deporting them when they do not) is one of the characteristics of the capitalist state, and Korea is no exception.
Recent moves by the government, as the economy once again falters, bodes ill for the unregistered illegal migrant workers in Korea. The Korean government has shown no signs of improving the migrant worker system. Instead they have tried to introduce the 'employment approval system,' which, in essence, is a regression from the current system. What, then, is the purpose behind efforts to introduce this system? Simply put, it is to drive out the migrant workers that are a burden on the economy, even though they were produced because of the government's needs; and the government is taking concrete steps to do so.
In late 99, a Bangladesh worker who was being held for deportation, hung himself at one of the counseling centers for immigrant workers. This worker had been in a state of depression because of his status as a illegal migrant, and had been shocked at the sight of friends being arrested right in front of the counseling center. As can be seen from this instance, such workers are under an enormous amount of stress because of their unstable status. They are under constant fear of being arrested and deported, even when they work or when they walk the streets. The migrant workers, however, are starting to resist against the reality of being treated like the dispensible screws of a machine. Before being 'labor,' they are 'humans,' and the reason that they came here was because of the attraction policy of the Korean government and the domination of the 3rd world by global capital. Migrant workers are the victims of global capital, and at the same time are undeniably 'workers.' The migrant workers in Korea and the social movements that support them have initiated the struggle to attain remission for the illegal unregistered migrant workers in Korea(which make up 65% of the total migrant work force). On the 19th of January, the SNforMRF (Struggle Network for Migrant Worker's Complete Labor Rights & Freedom of MigrantĄ¤Working), students, and other labor/social movement organizations held a demonstration in front of the Immigration Control office, renouncing the government for the deportation of, and attacks on migrant workers. The struggle continues today. Besides demonstrations, various actions such as sending protest mails to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Law are being taken.
SNforMRF calls for the solidarity to this struggle by the immigrant
workers. Mails of protest are a good way to start. The following are
addresses.
Minister of Law: jk.kim@moj.go.kr
Head of immigration control : immi_moj@moj.go.kr Minister of Labor: khj0807@molab.go.kr
News of the struggles of migrant workers world wide would be a great help to us, as well as the migrant workers of Korea. Please send such information to the SN for MRF. migrant@nodong.net
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