Migrant workers paid in paper coupons by farm employer
Paper coupons given to migrant workers in place of wages at farms in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Migrant Workers Solidarity Group
By Lee Suh-yoon
Dozens of migrant workers at farms in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, have been cheated out of their wages by their employer with fake cash coupons since last year, according to a local migrant workers' rights group.
The Daegu and North Gyeongsang Migrant Workers Solidarity Group filed a petition against the employer, Tuesday, claiming some 200 migrant workers were affected by the scam.
According to the workers, the employer handed out the coupons and claimed the homemade paper slips could be easily exchanged for cash at the end of the month, taking advantage of their lack of familiarity with local laws.
The workers, who worked for nine hours a day in the field, were promised around 6,300 won an hour, less than the minimum wage of 8,350 won.
By paying the workers in coupons ― only exchanged for cash when the workers confronted the employer with imminent hospital, rent or tax bills ― the employer withheld around 400 million won ($335,000) from migrant workers who were rotated around associated farms, the group said. Some workers had as much as 30 million won in wages withheld.
The employer threatened to report workers who demanded their rightful pay to the immigration authorities, as most of the affected workers were in Korea on a non-working family invitation visa. In a press conference outside the Daegu Regional Employment and Labor Administration, Tuesday, human rights groups criticized the labor ministry's inaction.
“Everyone has rights, including the right not to be discriminated against based on nationality, skin color or ethnicity,” Kim Jung-gon, head of Gyeongsang Migrant Workers' Center, said. “If the labor ministry had conducted thorough monitoring and punished wrongdoing by employers, such an event would have been prevented.”
This year, there were around 10,000 migrant workers with valid visas in the countryside. The estimated number of foreign workers working illegally at farms is twice this figure, according to immigration data.