“Do not leave your quarters after work.” As the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients increases, this is the new policy of a business in northern Gyeonggi-Do. Mr G, a foreign worker, thinks the company’s instructions are unfair. Korean workers are able to move about freely after work. Only foreign workers living together in company accommodations have to abide by this rule. In early March, Mr G’s employer assaulted him for going out on the weekend. Although it did not lead to major injuries, it is an example of social inequality leading to violence in individual workplaces. The immigrant community could not avoid being affected by the rapid spread of COVID-19. Residents who belong to the resident registration and health insurance system are given priority protection through government policies and community responses. However foreign workers, refugees and married migrant women are being driven into crisis situations regarding their livelihoods and quarantine rules. As the economy froze rapidly, more and more people have been feeling the pain in their employment situation. As consumption froze and trade was disrupted, many small manufacturing plants have closed or lowered their operating rates. Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees suffer more damage. Requests for consultation on wage disputes are increasing among foreign workers’ support groups. Without any explanation, an unpaid leave agreement written in Korean will be issued with the forcing of a signature, or group isolation will occur at the company’s lodgings, as in the case of the assault victim, Mr G.
Even if you try to return to your hometown, the problem of unpaid severance pay is an issue. YongChul Kim, head of the Daegu Seongseo Industrial Complex Trade Union’s counsel's office, said there was an increase in retirement fund consultations and disputes in March. With the spread of COVID-19 infections in regional Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, more foreign workers have rushed back to their hometowns, and many left without receiving proper severance pay. Director Kim, YongChul cited the case of a Vietnamese worker who worked at a factory for 10 years. Originally, he should have received about ₩ 30,000,000 (US$ 24,000 ) in severance pay, but the employer insisted that he would pay only ₩ 5,000,000 (US$ 4,050). He was an unregistered migrant worker who had passed his stay, and he paid his wages in cash without a card or bank-book record. “It wasn’t easy to prove, so I ended up going back to my hometown with only ₩ 5,000,000 (US$ 4,050)," he said. There were also several cases of people who left without being paid their salaries or getting their rent deposits repaid, as people left South Korea in a hurry in February. Foreign workers in manufacturing are routinely paid a month’s salary the following month. February’s salary is paid at the end of March. Where someone has left quickly due to COVID-19, labor unions or local social organizations can mediate by transferring unpaid salaries after receiving them on their behalf, but such assistance is difficult to get in some areas. Migrants with weaker legal status suffer more. Foreign workers working within the employment permit system receive consent to close, but refugees and unregistered migrant workers are likely to be fired unilaterally because their employment base was weak in the first place. YoungAh Kim, CEO of Migration to Asia Peace (MAP), who supports refugees and other involuntary migrants, said, “I started receiving calls from late February on from people who had lost their jobs.” Female refugees work as food processors and childcare teachers, but there has been a reduction in jobs due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis. Discussions on measures such as emergency support for living expenses are expanding at the central and local government level, but they do not include socially disadvantaged people such as refugees in the support list.
There’s also a big gap in the health care of migrants.
Civilian organizations, which used to fill the gaps of administrative power, have also closed down one after another or stopped functioning, reducing further the number of channels to ask for help. Ryu Ji-ho, head of the counselling team at Uijeongbu Foreign Workers’ Support Center, said, “We expect fewer counselling appointments due to their reluctance to go out after COVID-19. However, the total number of consultations has not changed very much. Other regional counselling centers in Gyeonggi-Do have been closed, increasing the number of foreign workers coming to us,” he said. Director Kim, YongChul, head of the Daegu Seongseo Industrial Complex Trade Union’s counsel's office, also expressed concern, saying, “Recently, some people came from Anyang or Ansan to Daegu.” The absence of medical services provided by various support groups is also a major threat to migrants who do not receive health insurance coverage. MAP CEO Kim, YoungAh said, “Various organizations that provided free medical care for migrants have stopped providing care. In the meantime, it has linked medical services when conducting refugee counselling, but it is impossible for the time being. We not only pay high medical bills without health insurance, but refugees are also struggling to find a livelihood,” he said. Even if they try to equip themselves with “personal protective equipment” such as masks and hand sanitizers, they often do not use them. In order for the government to purchase public masks that secure supplies, it must present both health insurance and alien registration cards. It will exclude migrants staying less than six months, unable to subscribe tothe public supply system at all. Migrant human rights groups, including the Refugee Human Rights Network, issued a statement on March 6th, saying, “The virus does not discriminate between people, but the mask supply chain should cover all people.” It is a “warning” that exclusion of migrants could expose holes in the entire social defence.
The impact of the lack of information for migrants.
South Korea is known to be a country where quarantine-related information is quickly provided externally, but this is not the case for migrants. Most of the information on the spread of COVID-19 released by the government or local governments is in Korean, and only English and Chinese are supported as foreign languages. As of 2019, many of those who entered the country under the E-9 visa condition speak non-English/non-Chinese languages in their countries such as Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. People from areas where online communities are relatively well established in Korea, such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand, can easily access quarantine-related information. As the counselling center, which provided interpretation services for migrants from the rest of the country, became impossible to visit, it became more difficult to access the information. Some refugees, who are also excluded from the country’s community because of political and religious issues, fall into greater isolation. MAP CEO Kim, YoungAh said, “Information accessibility, resource accessibility (financial hardship), and psychological alienation; in these three areas, refugees are especially becoming more marginalized,” he pointed out. Lack of information can create holes in the defence of not only migrants but also South Korean society as a whole. The government, which is aware of this, also allows patients to receive COVID-19 medical check-ups and treatment regardless of whether they are qualified to stay. Originally, public health and medical institutions were obliged to notify the Ministry of Justice if unregistered migrant foreigners visited, but they have been temporarily exempted from it since the 28th of January 2020. However, migrant human rights groups have said few immigrants were aware of the fact. Migrant human rights groups demand that the Ministry of Employment and Labor or the Ministry of Justice be more active in promoting policies to prevent COVID-19. The spread of COVID-19 threatens the lives of migrants, posing a risk to the entire domestic economy. As COVID-19 stops the movement of people and goods, labor market imbalances occur in different regions. For example, in rural areas that have relied on legitimate seasonal workers, local governments are failing to invite seasonal workers scheduled for March and April. Other regional governments, which have signed exchanges and cooperation, are also reluctant to invite three to four months of short-term labor. There are also concerns that the more rural areas are, the worse the residential environment provided to foreign workers is, the less effective the quarantine is. Many people often live in cramped containers or vinyl houses. Until now, local governments have cracked down on facilities for foreign workers living in rural areas, mindful of fire safety, ventilation and temperature control, but infectious diseases have not been a major consideration. The workplace provided housing and salaries to a level that was barely sustainable, and the migrants endured with minimal compensation. The balance has finally been tipped by the devastation of COVID-19.
translated by MinSun (Esther) Kim translation supervised by Franz Maier, Sumi Paik-Maier
