Employment Permit Bill Passes National Assembly
The new legislation requires migrant workers to renew their employment contracts annually and bans them from working in South Korea for more than three years.
Source :  BASE21
by Christian / Base21 Media Activists
dvs-b@t-online.de
The South Korean parliament, the National Assembly, Thursday, July 31, passed a bill regulating the employment of migrant workers, allowing the simultaneous implementation of a new Employment Permit System (EPS) along with the existing Industrial Trainee System (ITS) ETU-MB (Equality Trade Union ?Migrant’s Branch) is fighting against since its founding in 2001.
During a plenary session on the last day of July’s extraordinary sitting, the Assembly approved the work permit bill by a margin of 148 to 81. It will be put into practice from August next year.
With the passage of the bill, some 227,000 “illegal?migrant workers are concerning of being deported soon. If we add the family members in their home countries ?they are depend on the money migrant workers earn in South Korea - more than 1 million people will suffer from it, Kabir Uddin, a leading member of ETU-MB said.
The new legislation requires migrant workers to renew their employment contracts annually and bans them from working in South Korea for more than three years. It obliges those staying for over three years to stay away from the country for more than a year before being re-employed here. But ETU-MB demanded legalization of all migrant workers and 5-years working visa.
“According to the Ministry of Labor, the work permit system will give qualified foreign laborers various benefits, including industrial accident insurance and minimum wage guarantees. They will also get three key labor privileges - the rights to form trade unions, collective action and collective bargaining.?Korea Times wrote.
“But especially the last part we don’t believe, because if we will create unions they never will renew our visa. And also they’ve to understand that we fight for our right and not for privileges!?a Nepalese migrant worker on Thursday’s rally ?more than one hundred migrant worker and Korean supporters joined - on Yeouido in front of National Assembly told Base 21. “So actually nothing is change and we’ve to increase our struggle against the plans of South Korean government to deport us.?he continued. Kabir Uddin: “Never we will give up our right to struggle against ITS, EPS and the inhuman treatment of migrant workers in South Korea!?
Two umbrella labor groups, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, both issued statements Thursday vowing that they will continue to fight to abolish the industrial trainee system. The two groups said that the continuation of the trainee program does not help foreign workers here.
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