Migrant workers' union

Migrant workers' union

The first labor union of migrant workers was launched this week by some 90 employees of small firms in the capital city area mostly from Southeast Asia. It is a natural development as the government, under the work permit system implemented last August, recognizes the basic labor rights of foreign workers.

The first and foremost concern of foreign workers is to stay here for as long as they want. However, the work permit system allows a maximum of three years and it does not guarantee the reduction of the number of foreign workers overstaying their visa period. Ever since foreign laborers began to rush in here in the early 1990s, the absurdities of visa violations by migrant workers and the abuse of them by their employers have continued.

The reality is that the Korean industry needs foreign manpower but it is also important to maintain an orderly immigration system.

Once it has been launched, we hope that the foreign workers' organization will perform its proper mission of seeking to improve the working conditions of migrant laborers and exposing and correcting their sufferings at the hands of bad employers. -- The Korea Herald, Seoul