Migrant Workers in Korea are still enslave in spite of EPS

The Employment Permit System (EPS) is an Instrument of Enslavement of the Neo-liberal Capitalist Globalization
 
The Employment Permit System (EPS) of the South Korean government set in place in 2004 and has reached its seventh year of implementation has been an instrument of enslavement of the neo-liberal capitalist globalization benefiting the economies of both the source and destination countries of migrant workers. The Philippine government in 2010 reaped 18.8 billion dollars from remittances of over nine million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) worldwide. The amount is 8.2 percent higher than the previous year. It is however an irony that even with the wealth the government has amassed from the hard labor of migrant workers, social services to migrant workers still found wanting.
 
As an instrument of neo-liberal capitalist globalization the EPS has been the source of cheap labor as there has been a lack of local human resource for small and medium scale industries, thus the recourse to recruitment of migrant workers from overseas. The large scale production in the South Korean economy has undeniably benefitted from the supply of cheap labor from source countries. Access to cheap labor has been legalized through bilateral labor agreements such as the MOU on deployment of migrant workers.
 
Local capitalists and conglomerates are highly motivated to gain super profits and that requires subcontracted production from SMEs to realize their target profits, but would not give a dent on the suffering and inhumane working conditions of migrant workers. As in the case of many Filipino migrant workers in South Korea under the EPS they are classified as unskilled workers despite their educational and skills qualification.  Educational attainment in this sense is no longer significant in the profit making schemes of capitalists and factory owners.


The EPS is full of flaws especially in the employment term. The 3 years original employment term plus another 2 years extension has been legally prescribed and migrant workers are forced to leave the country without the possibility of further term extension nor changing visa status for long term employment or for acquiring residency status. The outcry of most EPS workers is for them to extend their employment term for they have already become skillful in their respective jobs and grant them the possibility to gain residency status to pay-off their deployment expenses and alleviate their families’ economic situation.

Also, the EPS workers in most cases have to work on extended hours up to 12 hours beyond the eight-hour labor law, without getting overtime pay. This is no different from what the undocumented workers are experiencing. Although there is a clear provision in the EPS law that that the Korean Labor Standards Act applies to all migrant workers, but the Korean government is just making a lip service to the plight of migrant workers. Specifically, the change of work places limited to 3 times during the first 3 years or the equivalent of one work place each year has resulted in abuse of workers’ rights and enslavement to inhumane working conditions.

Moreover, fresh recruits to EPS working in construction, agriculture and fishery firms are deceived in signing work contracts that are totally different from the actual work conditions, subjecting them dangerous and life threatening work situations. Compensation for industrial accidents experienced by migrant workers is difficult to process and access and more so with their pension and separation pays. Employers practice deceit by not contributing to the social benefits of migrant workers and they are prosecuted and penalized for such violations.
 
Furthermore, the Korean government failed miserably to address the situation of undocumented migrant workers aside from offering them voluntary departure or forced deportation. There is no doubt that EPS workers whose term of employment will soon expire but wanted to continue working in the country will become undocumented too. The government should devise new ways of legalizing undocumented workers because just like the EPS and the local workers, they contribute to the wealth of the South Korean economy.
 
Therefore, KASAMMAKO urges both the Philippine and South Korean governments to exhaustively evaluate and assess the EPS law to improve the working conditions of migrant workers and for them to be free from the enslavement of profiteering employers,  companies and capitalist that live luxuriously while their workers are suffering and could hardly survive with their low income incomes.
 
We urge the South Korean government to synchronize labor and immigration laws that will better the working conditions of migrant workers, giving them more democratic rights and allowing them to exercise their rights to unionize and pursue their employment goals.
 
POL PAR
Chairperson
KASAMMAKO
17 August 2011