Benjamin
Workplace violence is rampant. This is a case where fists give work orders rather than words. The work has to be done quickly, but the frustration of not being able to speak and not being able to do things as instructed is triggered by the judgement trying to solve it with emotions rather than reason rather than words. However, its essence is built-in with discrimination and contempt for foreigners toward the minority. The problem of workplace violence against migrant workers, who are constantly exposed to situations where violence is inevitable at any time, is serious. Case of
a workplace where violence is rampant
1
△△ factory in Ansan Sihwa Industrial Complex. In the case of Ranil (25 years old) and Rangmal (26 years old), who arrived on E-9 from Sri Lanka, they assaulted them for not handling instructions quickly while working. Around 9:30 a.m., the factory director ordered Ranil to take off his glasses, and he slapped him in the cheek four times and assaulted his stomach, legs and thighs with his feet. Even though he was in pain, he kept his head down, and he continued to assault while smashing his back. When Rangmal, who was working with him, stopped, he was assaulted indiscriminately by using a wooden broom at the site to beat his arms, hips, thighs, and stomach with his feet . But what was even more surprising was that President Ahn called this fact to the office and assaulted him again. Ranil and Rangmal had to be beaten all over the body like they were being whipped with cable ropes, all over their arms, legs, calves, and waist.
Case 2
Incheon Namdong Industrial Complex △△ Metal. In the case of Amiler (29 years old, Sri Lanka), a factory manager punched the back of the head with a fist and caused a concussion for looking at him while working. He was beaten and fell to the floor, but when he left, his colleague, Mr. Asanka (29-year-old Sri Lankan), called 112 and took him to the hospital. However, a company official did not even come to the hospital and instead fired him. I had to pay the hospital bills myself. I called the company, but all I heard was the assault and, of course, a shout telling me to send it to Sri Lanka immediately. Despite the assault within the workplace for four weeks before the war, the business owner as well as the plant manager, who is the victim of the assault, are consistently ignorant of the incident.
Case 3
Mr. John (25 years old, Sri Lanka) left the company after being beaten by his employer at △△Metal in Gimpo. I went to the Employment Security Center in a situation where only the words “later, later” were repeated in response to the request to pay the unpaid wages in a state where overtime allowance was not paid for two months, and basic wages, meals, and night allowance were not paid. The problem was the next day. When the boss called, he beat his head and shouted, “Why did you go to the Ministry of Labor?” He refused to seal the job change application that he had brought from the Ministry of Labor and tore the documents, saying, “Go to your country,” and confiscated your passport and dormitory key. He threw the bag and chased him away. Mr. John had to spend two days in a bountiful homelessness.
Case 4 In the case of
Mr. Ganga (27 years old, Sri Lanka), a migrant worker who came to Korea with an E-9 for 6 months. I was assaulted by the factory manager because I was busy at the workplace and didn’t listen properly. The factory manager was beaten in the face, legs, abdomen, and arms, and that was not enough, so he even picked up a pallet in the workshop and threw it. Although a medical certificate was issued for three weeks before the war, the employer rather called the Sri Lankan embassy with a letter of disapproval, urging the labor officer to take him immediately. In addition, if the passport is confiscated and subjected to cognitive-binding labor to prevent him from escaping. In other words, since they brought money in, they threatened to do their own thing to get them out. Not only that, he insisted that Korea’s labor-management culture is the same to migrant workers who protested against doing push-ups, such as bombing Wonsan at the site or dormitory. Business
owners who are insensitive to habitual assault When an
assault occurs at the workplace, the business owner mumbles by saying, “I didn’t know that hitting the back of the head would be an assault.” “Why is it assault for giving me a honey chestnut?” as if arguing. It’s something like, “How many times is it that you’ve been given a call?” It’s like, “Is it an assault to bang one’s head to tell you to do a good job?” It can’t be assault.
Workplace assaults are more common among middle managers than among co-workers. In the case of Pakistani Iqbal (37-year-old), he had just had a cup of coffee for a while, but he slapped him on the cheek and said, “Why aren’t you working? When I talk to a business owner about this problem, they consistently give excuses such as “The company is difficult these days, it’s difficult because they use foreigners too”, “I got a lot of bad things, so I got a complaint”, etc. In fact, he is silent about inhuman and impersonal acts of violence where people hit people. The fact that it is a crime is simply irrelevant. Rather, it is a struggle that “should we not understand as it is a problem caused by work”. When it comes to work, this is nothing. It’s like a potion of excuses.
However, for migrant workers who are the victims of violence, double suffering follows. There are many workplace assaults, but even if you want to protest or move to another factory, you can’t do it. Because of the current employment permit system. The current employment permit system does not allow change of workplace more than three times. If you change your workplace more than 3 times, you cannot cancel your visa and get a job. However, it is limited to 4 times only when there is no reason attributable to the person.
Due to this situation, violence in the workplace is aggravated by double or triple pain for migrant workers. For many migrant workers, a chain-like shackle that prevents them from changing their workplace. The Employment Security Center, which will monitor this, only mutters like a parrot in the Employment Permit System Act, which states that, if a problem arises, it is impossible to change the workplace. They respond that it is only done as a business guideline. Given this situation, it is not for nothing to point out that it is the Employment Security Center and the Ministry of Justice that mass-produce illegal immigrants rather than the migrant workers themselves.
Change of Workplace Acts as a Shackle
As mentioned earlier, migrant workers are fundamentally prevented from changing workplaces under the Employment Permit System. For migrant workers, employment changes limited to three times are known as ‘shackles’. It is a ‘snares’ that imprisons migrant workers. Rather, the employment permit system has resulted in the mass production of illegal immigrants.
Kamal (39 years old, Sri Lanka), who entered E-9 and became an undocumented migrant worker within a year, is a typical case. Mr. Kamal was working at a △△ factory in Daegot, Gimpo, and was assaulted by the factory manager while working. For the relief of the assault, a complaint was filed with the Gimpo Police Station, and after receiving an investigation, the workplace was changed. However, if the change of business is not permitted due to the regulation that the factory cannot be moved more than 4 times. The first factory went bankrupt, the second factory was assaulted, the third factory did not pay salaries, and the fourth factory was assaulted. In the case of Mr. Kamal, he changed his workplace four times. As a result, it was no longer possible to change the place of business.
In response to this, the competent employment security center and the foreigner in charge of the Ministry of Labor also recognize this as a problem with the current employment permit system, but only reply that there is no way to remedy it. It’s foolproof Even if a problem is raised, all problems are directed to the migrant worker, and only the employer’s unilateral position is repeated on the part of the employer. It can be said that the employment security center, immigration office, and the Ministry of Justice are giving up their duties or encouraging the mass production of illegal immigrants.
Masan, whom I met at the
Employment Security Center, is my thoughts every time I go to the Employment Security Center. It is not once or twice that it is sad to see the job search procession of migrant workers who sit in chairs all day and impatiently waiting to find a job at the Employment Security Center.
This is also the case with Masan (39 years old, Indonesia). He sits for a long time at the hands of a foreign counselor at the Employment Security Center who says, “Go, go, go,” and he gets up at the end of the conversation. When I asked the reason, he said that he was going to change his workplace after a year had passed, but a foreign counselor told him to go. When I asked the foreign counselor why, he said that in the case of Masan City, he had an extension contract with the business owner. However, as to why Masan had to be there to change his workplace, the foreign counselor had no way to explain other than “go, go”, so he was recklessly sending back the migrant worker. Under the Employment Permit System, once the one-year contract period is completed, it is possible to change the workplace. Why did the Employment Security Center send them back without regard to the demands of the migrant workers, even though their intentions were so?
Furthermore, a word from the employment security center staff to the human rights center staff who are protesting. “Dogs, cattle, and horses all seek and proclaim human rights. I have nothing to say to you, so go.” It was amazing. The pitiful response of the foreign staff at the Employment Security Center, which carries out official duties, is also a problem, and in view of such an attitude, many migrant workers face such a situation or are treated poorly and have to leave the Employment Security Center without speaking. this came to mind
I called Masan to the center and listened to him through an interpreter. Here is the content: Masan asked the business owner to allow him to move the business, but the business owner said, “I brought you here, so I will send you home” and made him sign the contract for a one-year extension. Not only that, he said he was afraid of the word “I will call the police and send him home” and signed it.
In fact, E-9 migrant workers who entered the Employment Permit System are required to renew their contracts every year. This is the only case in which the employer can move the workplace in response to the employer’s tyranny of forced labor under the current employment permit system, which does not allow movement of the workplace unless for reasons such as assault, non-payment of wages, or violation of the labor contract. The problem is that in the case of Masan, he requested a change of business after disqualification of his one-year contract, which is his legitimate right, and that the employer’s compulsion to write a contract and the negligent administration of the Employment Security Center, which ignored Masan’s request for a change of business as if condoning it. will be.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is still better if, like Mr. Masan, he puts it into action for the sake of relieving his rights. It is not yesterday or today that migrant workers, who enter the 3rd or 4th month of not communicating in Korean, are unilaterally exposed to the tyranny and violence of their employers.
Beyond discrimination and contempt for the underprivileged,
violence has a cause. One of them is that the strong exercise the superiority of power over the weak. There is inherent discrimination and contempt for migrant workers, who are underprivileged. The logic of being weak to the strong and strong to the weak is hidden. It is violence that exploits the position of the weak.
There is no perpetrator here. There are only victims called migrant workers. For many migrant workers, violence goes beyond simple physical violence, and the mechanism of oppression is based on institutional and structural capital-based violence. Perhaps it is not known whether there is a greater potential for violence within the people who are being assaulted, or even in society. Because they have been repressed, they have lived their lives under pressure, so there is no way that the meaning of existence is regained only if someone is constantly suppressed.
Migrant workers cannot protest even if they have a mouth. Because protesting them means deportation. Therefore, under the current employment permit system, resistance among migrant workers is strong. It is simply demanded as a machine that provides labor. In the end, they may be castrated and castrated, and even their souls will be castrated and become a consumable item for the clan. Even though they are human, even though they are human with blood, tears and sweat, they are not being treated as human beings.
Then we have to ask ourselves. Isn’t Korean society already internalizing the authority and pretentiousness of imperialism? Isn’t the position changing from the oppressed to the oppressor and from the victim to the perpetrator? Isn’t this the politics of hatred in Korean society moving from developing countries to anti-imperialism?