By Han Sang-hee
The Immigration Office ordering the departure of Filipina Michel Catuira, president of the Migrant Trade Union, is sparking protests from fellow migrant workers and other rights groups.
The office sent a notice to her lawyer, Tuesday, stating that she must leave the country by March 7, after alleging that Catuira, who came here on an E-9 work visa, has “pretended to work in disguise at a fake company,” and thus failed to meet visa requirements.
However, Catuira, 39, argued that the company was not bogus as the Korea Employment Information Service, a center under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, introduced her to the shoe-repair company in Seongsu-dong last March.
She worked there for three days, but the company had to shut down due to a work shortage, and she became jobless since Dec. 15 after the ministry designated it as a non-viable firm ineligible to hire immigrant workers.
Immigration canceled her visa on Feb. 14, accusing her of faking her job status.
Catuira filed an administrative suit Thursday to nullify the cancellation of the visa and deportation order.
She came to Korea in 2006 and worked at Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province before she became president of the Migrant Trade Union in 2009.
For its part, the Immigration Office is claiming that the company that hired Catuira did not exist in the first place, thus making it impossible for Catuira to meet the requirements of her visa.
``There was no company at all. Obviously, it was not operating, which means Catuira has not been working for the past months.
When a company (where an E-9 visa holder works) stops running, he or she must cancel the contract or change workplace, but she didn’t. She may have come to Korea to earn money, but it seems she changed her mind,’’ said Min Kil-soo, director of the foreign workforce division at the office.
The office added that it had the company’s business license, but there was no such company at the site and the company owner did register the shutdown.
In a separate interview, the employment service center said it confirms if companies are still running before introducing them to workers at all times, but an official from the Seoul Dongbu division of the employment service said they did not actually check every single workplace.
Jung young-sub, vice general secretary of the Migrant Trade Union reiterated Catuira’s claim that there was, in fact, a company running.
``It was a small company and it was not getting a lot of work. It closed temporarily, putting Catuira out of work. The problem here is that the Immigration Office is accusing her of faking her employment. It’s not the worker’s fault when there is not much work at the company,’’ he said.
Following the office’s announcement of the departure order, unions and migrant workers’ have expressed their support for Catuira, arguing that this is simply a way of attacking her “righteous” union activities.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said the deportation move was a targeted crackdown on someone who took the proper actions for employment, and that it was unfair to force her to leave the country accusing her of faking employment.
The Incheon Migrant Labor Union added that the government should protect the rights regarding recruitment and arrange fair employment procedures to have Catuira employed at a different work place.