Illegal aliens will be allowed to set up unions

Members of the Migrants’ Trade Union cheer the Supreme Court’s decision to recognize the rights of illegal aliens to form labor unions, in front of the court in southern Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling that recognized the legal status of illegal aliens as members of a trade union.

The landmark ruling paves the way for undocumented foreign workers to set up unions and negotiate with employers over their working conditions.

A decade ago, a group of 91 foreign workers in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, named the Migrants’ Trade Union (MTU), filed a suit after their status as union members was denied by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

The highest court, however, ruled in favor of the group, ordering the ministry to recognize its union.

The MTU, which has some 1,000 members, belongs to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country's second-largest umbrella union. Its members are migrants from Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the majority of whom are undocumented.

Of the 700,000 migrant workers here, as many as 105,000, or 15 percent, are believed to be staying illegally.

“All people who receive salaries in return for providing labor are entitled to set up trade unions,” the court said in its ruling. “It does not matter whether they are undocumented workers or not.”

The MTU welcomed the ruling.

“It is a right way towards labor rights improvement,” MTU official Park Jin-woo said. “Obtaining legal recognition is the foundation upon which the labor forces grow.”

In 2006, the administrative court ruled that the law here does not recognize them as workers entitled to legal protection, because they are foreigners staying illegally.

That ruling was overturned by the Seoul High Court in 2007, which said they are entitled to three union rights ― the establishment of unions, collective bargaining and taking collective action.

“Under the current system, we are bound to be blindly submissive to our employers,” MTU President Udaya Rai said. “Not only do we need permission from the employers for the change. We demand our basic rights including more freedom to choose the companies they want to work at."

Since its foundation in 2005, the MTU has been under government scrutiny. Five of its senior officials, including two presidents, were deported for their involvement in the labor movement.

For its part, Amnesty International released a special report last year urging the government to intensify efforts to prevent human rights violations.

It said migrant workers here are often subject to verbal abuse, sexual abuse or forced to work excessive hours without due payment.