|
{preheader}
|
Letter from the Editor
Last July, a male worker in his 20s died from severe overwork just 14 months after joining the company. He worked 80 hours during the week immediately preceding his death. On the day the store opened in a new location, he worked 13 hours a day and also worked on his day off. He suffered from chronic overwork, averaging 58 hours per week from 12 weeks to 2 weeks before his death. It is known that the day before his death, he was so busy and given no break time that he couldn’t even eat a meal.
This company operates a large café chain popular among young people, especially for its bagels. It has been revealed that the company completely disregarded its workers’ labor rights and right to health. It even denies the fact of death by overwork and refuses to submit necessary materials for the investigation.
It’s disheartening to think of the countless companies failing to guarantee labor rights.
Society must ensure everyone working has the right to a safe, healthy environment and reasonable working hours, and it must uphold these fundamental principles.
We hope that you will continue to be interested in our activities. Please pass it on to others.
If you have any questions, please reply to this email.
Thank you.
|
|
|
| |
|
Ethnic Korean migrant workers from China also face significant risks, particularly in the jobs they occupy. Many of the migrant workers providing labor shunned by domestic South Korean workers – such as 3D jobs (Dangerous, Dirty, Difficult) and care work – are migrant workers from China. The Aricel disaster also confirmed their tendency to fill dangerous jobs. Why is this?
Employment restrictions are placed on ethnic Korean migrant workers from China based on the type of visa they hold. However, in reality, these regulations are meaningless. For example, many of the victims of the Aricel disaster were staying on F4 visas (overseas Korean visas), which the Ministry of Justice prohibits from performing “simple labor activities.” Yet, they perished while working at Aricel, packaging and inspecting batteries. While visa type is legally restricted, in practice, it is not effective. In this paradoxical situation, ethnic Korean migrant workers from China are forced to straddle the line between legality and illegality.
|
| |
| |
|
The Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service previously recognized meniscus tears in the knees of an agricultural workers with over 10 years of service as covered by workers’ compensation based on the presumption principle. There have been cases where migrant workers’ musculoskeletal disorders have been recognized as covered by workers’ compensation. However, as of 2022, this principle is no longer applicable. The Ministry of Employment and Labor issued a notification, increasing the number of covered musculoskeletal disorders from six to eight and adding occupations, but agriculture was not included. This is a disadvantage to workers in agriculture.
|
| |
| |
About KILSH(Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health)
|
| |
|
KILSH is a public interest civil society group focusing on workers’ health and safety. We are working for healthy working conditions for all workers, and for workers to have greater autonomy in their workplaces. We meet and educate workers and trade unions on how to prevent occupational injuries and describe how to get involved in changing the working environment.
We have worked on important issues such as musculoskeletal disorders, long working hours, overwork and mental illness. We have continued our work on workers’ health rights at small-sized businesses, female workers’ health, the climate crisis, the right to stop dangerous work and how risk assessment is conducted and used. These issues are described in our monthly magazine on occupational safety and health with different topics every month. Our translation team provides information about our activities in English.
|
| |
|
