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| Members of the Migrants' Trade Union call for the government to allow the official establishment of the union in front of the Seoul Regional Ministry of Employment and Labor building in central Seoul, Monday, after the government refused the request saying some of the union's rules have political purposes. / Yonhap |
By Jhoo Dong-chan
When the Supreme Court last month recognized illegal immigrants' right to belong to a trade union, Park Jin-woo, deputy secretary general of the nation's first migrant workers' union, believed the hurdle to being recognized was cleared.
But he soon faced another obstacle because labor authorities have refused to register the Migrants' Trade Union (MTU) officially.
The MTU applied for the registration earlier this month following the historic top court ruling on June 25 that came a decade after the union launched the suit in 2005.
But the Ministry of Employment and Labor rejected the application, demanding that the union revise some rules and regulations.
"We turned it down because the regulations could be used for political purpose," said Oh Young-min, head of the ministry's legal affairs division for labor and management relations.
"Some of the rules say the union will pursue legalizing illegal foreign workers and abolishing the employment permit system. Such rules will jeopardize law and order if we allowed their application."
The MTU then revised the rules and resubmitted the application last Monday, but the labor ministry again rejected it.
"The labor ministry, this time, demanded a list of the union members who participated in our general meeting, saying it needed to check whether the meeting followed legitimate procedures," said Park.
"We first went to the court for the same reason 10 years ago, and the court finally ruled in favor of us last month. I think the labor ministry is just making excuses to reject the establishment of the migrant workers' union."
About 50 MTU members, including Park and union head Udaya Rai, held a rally in front of the Seoul Regional Ministry of Employment and Labor building in central Seoul, Monday, to protest the ministry's decision.
"The ministry should immediately allow the establishment of the migrant workers' union," Rai said in fluent Korean during a press conference in the protest.
"We have waited for 10 years to gain the legal status that will protect our basic rights and interests as workers.
"The Supreme Court already paved the way for the establishment, saying that we have equal rights to join and set up a union regardless of the legal status."
Since the MTU started a legal battle against the government in 2005, five of the union's senior officials, including two presidents, have been deported from for their engagement in the labor movement.
The U.N. Human Right Council also released a special report on June 30, urging the Korean government to improve migrant workers' rights by revising related laws and allowing them to receive the same overtime pay and incentives as Korean workers.
With more than 1,000 members, the MTU belongs to the Korean Confederation of Trade Union, one of the nation's umbrella unions.
Members, most of whom are believed to be undocumented, are from Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), there are about 700,000 migrant workers in Korea. Of these, 105,000, or 15 percent, are believed to be illegal.
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