Planned working permition system for migrant workers for South Korean unions not enough
South Korea's unions lambasted the government's plan to implement the exclusive work permit system for migrant workers on a trial basis as a withdrawal from its reform drive.
Source : BASE21
by Christian / Base21 Media Activists
dvs-b@t-online.de
South Korea's unions lambasted the government's plan to implement the exclusive work permit system for migrant workers on a trial basis as a withdrawal from its reform drive.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called on the government to extend the practice of the system on a larger scale then originally planned.
The Labor Ministry announced a plan before last week to replace the industrial trainee system with the new scheme under which foreign workers will be given the same treatment as local laborers in accordance with labor laws.
Critics including trade unionists have been denouncing the industrial trainee system as being used by employers to exploit cheap foreign labor and resulting in illegal foreign workers who often flee their "training" workplaces for higher wages.
The FKTU said in a statement the measure to practice the new scheme on a trial basis disappointed workers who had expected the Roh government to carry out forward-looking labor policies.
"The maintenance of the industrial trainee system will only show that the government has discarded its reform policies under pressure from corporate interest groups and employers," it said.
The KCTU also expressed its discontent with the government for opting to test-run the new scheme, saying its failure to implement the work permit system will prove the Roh government has not progressed from its predecessors.
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