The history of reproduction infringement on female workers and the struggle for recognition

– Cheonghee Yu

In 2020, the supreme court of Korea acknowledged congenital cardiac diseases of children of nurses who had worked at Jeju Medical Center as occupational diseases. Since the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service’s disapproval of workers’ application for the industrial injuries and the lawsuit afterwards, it took ten years to be acknowledged. The supreme court acknowledged women workers’ injuries due to their work as the cause of the children’s diseases by making it clear that “according to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, the mother’s body and fetus are considered as ‘a single entity’”, and deciding that “the fetus is together with the mother at the working site, so it can be exposed to accidents and dangers any time”. This judgment affirmed that female workers’ right to safe and healthy work is more important than anything. It confirmed that the offspring’s diseases can be covered by the Accident Compensation Insurance Act. After this judgment, discussions to make amendments of the Act have been made on many issues such as possibility of retroactive application to offspring’s disease and the range of benefits and payment to be paid. 

In general, reproductive rights means that one can be pregnant when she wants without discrimination or violence, and one can decide the number of children and the time she wants to have. Internationally this concept has been in common use, and recently in Korea, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, SRHR has been actively discussed together with abolition of the abortion ban. According to the fundamental law proposal on sexual and reproductive guarantee presented by the center for Sexual rigHts And Reproductive JusticE, the article of guaranteeing of sexual and reproductive rights at workplace(Article 46) provides to guarantee sexual and reproductive rights for every worker, and not to violate sexual and reproductive health. 

The Labor Standard Act prohibits working at night time for pregnant women to guarantee the reproductive rights of female workers and makes employers provide miscarriage leave in case a worker miscarries. At certain periods of pregnancy the Act allows to shorten the working time. Also, if a worker requests, the employer is supposed to provide menstrual leave. However, when the reproductive rights of female workers were infringed or even when workers had health problems from work, workers could not bring them to light because such problems were taken as personal ones. Even when they brought them to light, it has long been difficult for such issues to be acknowledged as relevant with work. 

In 1995, LG Electronics Parts Company in Yangsan City, Gyeongsangnam-do, 18 female workers out of 20 were diagnosed as amenorrhea. These workers working at the assembly site of TACT switches of electronics parts used the ‘SOLVENT 5200’ to remove impurities from the assembling process. The Ministry of Employment and Labor immediately started the epidemiological survey, and found that material called ‘2-bromopropane’ used in the SOLVENT 5200 was the cause of the amenorrhea. The reason workers used such hazardous chemical substances without any protection was because 2-bromopropane was not included in the 697 kind of hazardous chemical substance list to be controlled. In Japan, the same SOLVENT 5200 was used but such cases did not occur because they thoroughly ventilated the site, and the companies let workers use protective equipments such as respirators and goggles. It found that there were quite big differences on managing the site. In Japan the factories had to ventilate even on holidays but in Korea they did not follow the rules. 

Female workers were diagnosed as infertility, and some male workers as azoospermia. After the epidemiological survey, the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute(OSHRI) acknowledged the workers’ diseases as occupational diseases. 

The Jeju Medical Center workers’ case caused by the hazardous working environment

In the Jeju Medical Center case of diseases, the point was if the offspring’s disease could be acknowledged as occupational diseases after being separated from mothers by being born. After all, they were acknowledged as occupational diseases. Then what about the miscarriage? It looks quite clear because it happened to workers themselves. 

Beside the offspring cases, there were other workers who miscarried in the Jeju Medical Center. From 2009 to 2010, they had irregular shift work, they had to take care of 2 to 3 times more patients than other hospitals per every nurse, and were exposed to chemical material during preparing medicine. They miscarried or gave birth to babies with congenital cardiac diseases. These workers who miscarried were approved of industrial injuries. However, before or after them, the number of the workers ever applied for compensation and approved as occupational disease for their miscarriage is extremely low. From 2010 to 2019, approved cases for occupational disease compensation related maternity protection were only 7(6 miscarriage cases and 1 infertility case). 

Offspring diseases as industrial accident at semiconductor industry

Banolim(in Korean), Supporters for Health and Right of People in Semiconductor Industry held a press conference on 20, May 2021 for <3 occupational disease victims with offspring disease at the semiconductor industry to apply for the industrial accident> and applied for the industrial accident compensation. After the Jeju Medical Center case, it was the second industrial accident case of offspring’s disease (as a group). Three women workers who applied for the industrial accident on that day had started working for Samsung Semiconductor in the early-mid 1990s and continued working for 10 or over 10 years.

At the semiconductor operation these workers constantly used toxic substances, and one of them was exposed to harmful chemical substances including reproductive toxins. One of the babies these workers gave birth to had congenital megacolon, so the child had to take operation as soon as the baby was born. Two other babies had only one kidney when they were born. Their children have been in constant treatment with other diseases besides them. 

It is known that the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service is reviewing the industrial accident case applied by Banolim. While the offspring’s disease brought out discussions, the law(Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act) has not been amended yet. Whether previous cases will be included retroactively in the amended law remains as an issue. Also, whether industrial accident payment such as wage replacement benefits, survivors’ payment will be included besides treatment payment in the law is another issue.

Reproductive rights are labor rights

Menstruation is connected to women’s reproductive rights. You have a right to stay healthy whether you want to be pregnant or not, and your company has to make conditions to guarantee your right. However, LG Electronics Parts Company and the Korean government did not inspect the toxic chemical substances even though they had to. Because of this, women workers suffered from amenorrhea. It raised awareness about women workers’ infringement of health rights in society. Workers’ miscarriages and offsprings disease at the Jeju Medical Center were also infringement of health rights and reproductive rights due to using toxic substances and overwork. Workers should have the right to work in a safe environment and the right to decide whether to get pregnant  and to decide the time, but workers at the Jeju Medical Center were deprived of their rights. Workers of Samsung Semiconductor suffered from infringing their rights as well.

Women workers suffered from amenorrhea, miscarriage, and giving birth to children with congenital disease after being exposed to toxic substances, nighttime work or overwork. These cases might be just a part of many. Cases such as miscarriage of women workers are industrial injury and the result of labor rights infringement, but these cases are not even recognized as labor issues. There is a painful history in which such problems were taken as individuals’ problems and have not been revealed publicly. 

Reproductive rights infringement occurs in an unsafe working environment. It is an issue of society, not an individual one. It is time for the employers and the government to recognize reproductive rights are the basic rights that workers should be ensured.