t-shirt texts:
“The Embassy of Nepal, as well as the embassies of other Southeast Asian countries, faces the same situation. When workers from their countries die in South Korea, they do not talk about it. They’re worried that if they speak out the issue, they may get a reduced migrant worker quota. That would mean less earnings in foreign currency, which is worth more,” journalist Mindoo Kee points out. As a result, foreign workers’ deaths are silenced.
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Chulwoon Jung, “Following the Silenced Deaths of Migrant Workers from Nepal,” Media Today, trans. Leah Gallant and Nayeon Yang, September 30, 2019, http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html
(기민도 기자는) “네팔 대사관도, 다른 동남아 대사관도 마찬가지다. 한국에서 자국 노동자가 숨져도 아무 말 못 한다. 문제를 일으켰다가 노동자 쿼터가 줄면 외화벌이가 줄어들 수 있어서다”라고 지적했다. 그 결과 이들의 죽음은 기록되지 않는다
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정철운, “네팔에서 이주노동자의 소리 없는 죽음을 추적하다,” 미디어 오늘, 9월 30일 2019년,
http://www.mediatoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html
A large number of migrant workers live on farms in Pocheon, Gyeonggi. Two or three people stay in a dorm room smaller than 285 square feet. A restroom is outside of the house.
Even if the migrant workers want to change jobs because of the poor working and living conditions, they face institutional barriers to doing so[1]. Last year, no requests for change of job due to living conditions were accepted. The Employment Permit System gives employers absolute sovereignty. The reality today is worse than Jeon Tae-il’s era.
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Eunii Lee and Minji Cha, “CBS ‘Greenhouse, Shipping Container House…’ Another Name of Jeon Taeil,” NoCut News, trans. Leah Gallant and Nayeon Yang, November 12, 2020, https://www.nocutnews.co.kr/news/5445719.
이주노동자 대거 둥지 튼 경기 포천 농장
팔평도 안 되는 공간에 두세명 기거 …화장실은 집밖
열악한 근무지 바꾸고 싶어도 제도 장벽 너무 높아
지난해 기숙사 문제로 사업장 변경 건수 영 건
고용허가제 고용주에 절대주권…전태일보다 못한 현실
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이은지·차민지, CBS “비닐하우스, 조립식 패널…”또 다른 이름의 ‘전태일’,” 노컷뉴스, 11월 12일 2020년 https://www.nocutnews.co.kr/news/5445719
[1] Under the Employment Permit System (EPS), migrant workers cannot choose or change their workplaces without their employers’ permission. Migrant workers are assigned to random workplaces as Korean employers “pick” them. It is also the employers’ power to extend their Visa. Some activists address EPS as a modern slavery system. (translator’s note)
The issue about dangerous work being outsourced becomes exacerbated as migrant workers are now targeted for the dangerous work. In Korean society, instead of monitoring safety performance and regulating dangerous conditions to work in, companies hire migrant workers because they can be dispensable at any time. After all, large numbers of migrant workers are sent to hazardous workplaces without even receiving safety education.
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Wan Lee, “Dangerous Work for Outsourced Workers, Dangerous Work for Migrant Workers,” KyeongIn Daily News, trans. Leah Gallant and Nayeon Yang, August 7, 2019, http://www.kyeongin.com/main/view.php?key=20190806010001649.
위험의 외주화를 넘어 이주민화가 일어나고 있다. 한국사회는 현장의 위험을 관리할 수 있는 시스템을 바꾸는 대신, 그곳에 언제든 대체할 수 있는 이주노동자를 보내고 있다. 결국, 현재 이주노동자들이 기본적인 안전교육조차 제대로 받지 못하고 대거 투입되고 있다.
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이완, “위험의 외주화, 위험의 이주민화,” 경인일보, 8월 7일 2019년 http://www.kyeongin.com/main/view.php?key=20190806010001649
More than 30% of women migrant workers experience workplace violence or sexual harassment. However, the victims are not able to report the incidents because they are afraid of getting fired. They consider reporting the harassment pointless because they are “foreign women.”
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KyeongNam Kang, “More Than 30% of Women Migrant Workers in Gwangju are Victims of Workplace Sexual Harassment,” GwangjuDream, trans. Leah Gallant and Nayeon Yang, January 29, 2020, http://www.gjdream.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=502409
이주여성노동자들의 삼십퍼센트 이상이 폭력이나 성희롱 성폭력 피해 경험을 당하고, 피해를 입고도 해고가 두렵거나 ‘외국인여성’이라 항의해도 소용없을까 봐 대처조차 못하고 있다는 것.
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강경남, “광주 이주여성노동자 30% 이상 성희롱·성폭력 피해,” 광주드림, 1월 29일 2020년,
Four migrant workers who suffocated in the warehouse storage of a seafood processing company in Yeongdeok. A worker from Myanmar who drowned at a stormwater pumping station in Mok-dong. A Thai migrant who was sucked into a conveyor belt at a construction waste plant in Yangju. Another migrant worker who died from a fall at a construction site. Since 2018, in just two years, at least 332 migrant workers have died.
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Jongho Lee, “In the Past Two Years, At Least 332 Migrant Workers Die in Industrial Accidents,” Ulsan Journal, trans. Leah Gallant and Nayeon Yang, April 15, 2020, http://www.usjournal.kr/news/newsview.php?ncode=1065590305540745.
영덕의 수산물 가공업체 지하 저장창고에서 일하던 이주노동자 4명의 질식사, 목동 빗물펌프장에서 수몰 산재사고를 당한 미얀마 노동자, 건설 현장에서 추락사한 이주노동자, 양주의 건축폐기물 공장에서 컨베이어벨트에 끼어 사망한 태국 이주노동자 등 2018년부터 2년 동안 숨진 이주노동자는 최소 332명.
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이종호, “2년 동안 산업재해로 숨진 이주노동자 최소 332명,” 울산저널, 4월 15일 2020년,
http://www.usjournal.kr/news/newsview.php?ncode=1065590305540745
partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.