Migrant workers on the margin

By Lairam Vapual

You are afraid of taking the subway. You are afraid of shopping at market places. You avoid walking or working in daylight. But you are not a criminal. You have not committed a crime either. Still you prefer to go out and work at night, keeping a low profile. And you know the reason why.

You are promised by your boss that you would be allowed Sunday off every week. So, you tirelessly work for him, usually doing overtime, day and night, just for small wages. But after five months or so, you get fired because you defy your boss by refusing to work on Sundays, citing a religious service you have to attend. You are then given no bonus, no compensation for being dismissed from work, and left with little hope of finding another job.

Or perhaps you have been diligently working for the same factory for a couple of years and you are getting along well with your boss. But just as business looks bleak, your boss calls you and tells you that your monthly wages would be reduced to won 200,000, which is four or five times less than your current wage. You have only two choices: take it or leave it. Finally, you reluctantly decide to leave it, even with little hope of getting a new job in the near future.

Or, perhaps you have been working very hard for your boss for a long time but have not received your wages for four months in a row. Whenever you request the money, your boss has his usual response: wait patiently until the next pay day. But nothing happens. Still you are faithful to your job and your boss.

Maybe you are a conscientious and humble worker willing to do whatever job you are told. You toil from dawn to dusk at your workplace. You work as hard as your local workmates do. You get up as early as they do. You work as late as they do. You put the same amount of time, energy and effort into your work as they do. You are a skilled and experienced worker like them. Nevertheless, when you get your pay you learn hard to be satisfied with the small amount of your wages, only half what your local workmates get.

Whenever important holidays such as New Year, Luna, Chuseok and summer vacation approach, you are as happy as your local workmates. You are excited at the thought of a holiday for a day or two. However, when bonuses are given, you wonder why your workmates get five times as much as you. Even the bonus of a workmate who has just arrived at the factory is twice yours. But you never ask a question or complain.

Maybe you have been working faithfully for your company for a number of years. Yet you have not been entitled to medical insurance, leave of any kind and other benefits long enjoyed by your local workmates. You know you deserve these, too, but you do not have it. You know you are a laborer but you do not have labor rights. You know you want to voice your grievances but you are voiceless. And, you know the reason why. When you get sick and have to take time off, you are not paid for a single day you do not work. When, unfortunately enough, you learn of the death of a family member across the ocean in your home country, you do not have time to grieve because you are supposed to continue to work.

Despite all these things and situations, you still prefer to stay here -- to grin and bear it -- because you know you have many mouths to feed back home. Being out of work here might inevitably mean putting a family, perhaps several families, into starvation back there.

Fifth Article (Jan. 6, 2005)
The Korea Herald (A Reader's View)