"Korean Employers, We Are Not Machines or Slaves."

[경향신문]

Migrant Workers Have a Right to Live like Humans: On December 19, participants of the International Migrants Day Rally shout slogans in front of Bosingak in Jongno-gu, Seoul. In the first part of the rally, participants held a ceremony to remember Sokkheng (left photo), a Cambodian woman found dead in her vinyl greenhouse dormitory while working as a farmhand on December 20, 2020. Kim Chang-gil

“Migrant workers produce what people eat, wear, use, ride, and buy in South Korea, but they are treated like pieces of machinery and slaves.”

On International Migrants Day, a rally was held to remember Sokkheng, a migrant worker who died in a vinyl greenhouse used as a dormitory last winter, and to call for a guarantee of the rights of migrant workers. The workers shouted slogans such as “Free job change” and “No discrimination.”

The Migrants’ Trade Union and the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions held the International Migrants Day Rally in front of Bosingak in Jongno-gu, Seoul on December 19, the day after International Migrants Day (Dec. 18). Udaya Rai, head of the Migrants’ Trade Union said, “Migrant workers could not get off work on December 18, a Saturday, so we held the rally this day.” Participants said, “Migrant workers are supporting the South Korean economy by engaging in 3D jobs, which South Koreans avoid. Yet for decades, we have been exposed to exploitation, discrimination, oppression and violence.”

Before the rally, the migrant workers held a memorial for Sokkheng. On one altar, they placed tropical fruits that she enjoyed in Cambodia, her homeland. Sokkheng, a migrant worker from Cambodia, was found dead in a vinyl greenhouse, used as a workers’ dormitory in Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi on December 20, 2020. A cold wave had hit the country that day, bringing temperatures down to as low as minus sixteen degrees.

Migrant workers claimed that their poor residential environment and working conditions did not change even after Sokkheng’s death. Chonsawat, a migrant worker from Cambodia said, “We don’t have any heating or hot water in the container dormitory where I live. When it rains, the water leaks from the ceiling, and we can’t sleep on the floor. We have to tie a hammock and sleep in the hammock.” He also said, “Our boss makes us work outside the set working hours. When we harvest rice, he even wakes us up at four in the morning to make us work. He makes us work ten hours a day like that, but only pays us wages for eight hours. We work like slaves.”

Migrant workers argue that the government should change the Employment Permit System, which restricts migrant workers from finding new employers and workplaces. The Employment Permit System, which was first introduced in 2003, allows migrant workers to change workplaces only three times in three years. If they violate this restriction, they become unregistered migrant workers. Chamanda, vice chief of the Sungseo Industrial Complex Trade Union argued, “Because of the law that prohibits workers from moving to a new company without the employer’s permission, migrant workers end up as unregistered workers.” He further explained, “Once you become an unregistered worker, you can’t go to the Ministry of Employment and Labor even when your employer delays the payment of wages, and you can’t go to the hospital because you don’t have health insurance.” Udaya Rai argued, “Because of the Employment Permit System, migrant workers are doing slave labor.”