Welcome to BASE21

By Han Ei-no
Staff reporter

The Mecca of Korean democracy and home of migrant workers movement in Korea, Myongdong Cathedral was aired with voices demanding a righteous migrant workers policy.
However, the possibility of passing that the employment permit system (EPS) bill at the National Assembly is getting fainter.
The National Assembly originally planed to deal with EPS bill at its Committee of Environment and Labor from around November 20. But it couldn’t be held for almost one week as the opposition party boycotted it because the impeachment trial against the chief of national prosecution couldn’t be dealt due to the ruling party’s obstacle.
The session was reopened on November 25 as the opposition party decided to get back there on November 24. However, the remaing session term of National Assembly is too short to treat all the tasks given them. The session is supposed to be finished by December 9, 287 bills of laws and national budget of the year 2001 must be passed by the day. As of November 29, the EPS bill by ruling party had not been submitted to the National Assembly.

For about one week that the National Assembly was not held, the opinions asserting to maintain current migrant workers policy had been getting power. About 1,000 employers hiring foreign industrial trainees had a rally demanding to withdraw the bill of EPS before the main building of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) in Youido, Seoul on November 21.
The domestic economic situation was also worse; the opinions that the Korea will suffer the second economic crisis as the Daewoo Motors Company and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company were dishonored, Korean won’s value against US dollar plunged, and the unemployed people increased as a scale. As the same goes with worsened economic situation, the public concerning on human rights affair of migrant workers is also fading.
MDP, having been hold EPS bill reluctantly, is considering not to submit the EPS bill to the National Assembly for the reason that the term of regular session doesn’t remain far. Rev. Park Pyong-sok, spokesman of MDP said on November 21, “We are speculating to keep the bill till the controversial parts are solved as the ‘medium and small sized businesses committee’ in our party asked us to postpone or defer submitting the bill.”
The EPS bill is to be doomed by December 9, the last day of National Assembly regular session. If the schedule of session is not to be finished regularly by the date, it is still possible that the bill is dealt at another temporary session of the National Assembly.

As the activity to resist enacting the bill of EPS has been showing up, the Common Committee for Elimination of Discrimination against Migrant Workers and Promoting the Basic Rights (CEDMW) including JCMK has been struggling for enactment of a righteous EPS bill.
CEDMW held the ‘Reporting Rally on Migrants’ Human Rights’ at Myongdong Cathedral in Seoul on November 19 with some 600 migrant workers and Korean activists. The participants determined to struggle till the just work/employment permit system is enacted.
CEDMW last week petitioned a bill of ‘the law of protecting basic rights of migrant workers and employment’ to the National Assembly. Like a resister against the EPS bill by the government and ruling party, this bill suggests that undocumented workers should be granted amnesty, and industrial trainees will get work permits.
CEDMW on November 27 announced its statement on the daily Hankyoreh as an advertisement with 500 activists in the civic and social movement camp. The statement insists; industrial trainee system, modern slavery system should be abolished, fair foreign workers system should be implemented, countermeasure upon undocumented migrant workers is needed, ratification of the UN Convention for protection for all migrant workers and their families.
Locally, the ‘rally for elimination of discrimination against migrant workers and protecting basic rights of migrant workers’ was held at the plaza of Pukbu Station in Puchon on November 26, and the rally for abolishment of trainee system is still held at Ansan Station plaza constantly on every Saturdays as the sixth rally was held on December 2.
The next Saturday from the reporting rally by CEDMW, another rally by Struggle Network for Migrant Workers Rights and Freedom (SNMRF) was held at Myonddong Cathedral. At the rally with some 80 participants, a Filipino worker spoke, “we have been had a dream fighting with Korean workers, we wish to be with more people will join this rally.” On the day, the English instructors of ELS institute in Poryong, South Chungnam Province who firstly organized a trade union with foreigners joined and presented a speech there.
Besides of possibility of enacting the EPS bill, the migrant workers camp has not its clear opinion toward EPS. The flow of JCMK’s insist is going to pointing out problems of EPS bill, which first asserted to abolish trainee system. It means that its attitude toward EPS is changed from indirect agreement to critical support or conditional disagreement.
SNMRF clearly disagrees to EPS.
The reason why the circumstance of full supporting for EPS has been changing little by little is because the bill has some of poisonous parts.
Firstly, the new system granting work permit every year, three years in maximum is retreated from current industrial trainee system, 2+1 system. Moreover, it is said the problem is that the bill has no provision for undocumented workers. Even in current trainee system, undocumented workers’ labor rights are protected partly, but under the new system only a hard round up is waiting for them. The most crucial problem that all migrant workers are not fully supporting it is that neither trainees nor undocumented workers will be benefited by the news system.