International Labor Camp Should Unite for Resisting Globalization

Dong-Hoon Seol (Lecturer of Sociology, Seoul National University)

Following the previous issue of the Asian Workers News, this is a summary of a lecture by Dong-Hoon Seol, Ph.D. The Lecture was presented to migrant center staff members, under the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea (JCMK) on January 21, 2000 at the Anyang Migrant Workers' House.

The Law for Protection of Migrant Workers is needed because of migrant worker discrimination

Ceceilea Kumyeon Lee (JCMK president): We have insisted, as a belief, that the Protection Law for Migrant Workers should be legislated. Then, someone says, "why do we need the law and Why should we assert to protect migrant workers? Like Japan, we also can appeal that the Labor Standards Act strictly enforced in the factories where migrant workers employed." What do you think of this opinion?

Dong-Hoon Seol: All countries primarily protect their native workers . As a rule, a law is established in order to restrict something in society. If there were no discrimination in Korean society, we would not need anti-discrimination laws. Actually, though migrant workers are discriminated against and are not treated as equals to Korean workers. So, we need laws to protect them. But, we should be more flexible in that "protection" in anti-discrimination laws could be deleted from the name of the law.

Migrants move after social network

Yoon-Joo Yi (JCMK Secretary General): What are some theories explaining migration causes?

Dong-Hoon Seol: There are three competing theories: structure, agency, and social network. The most important factor influencing international labor migration is the "structure" of global capitalism. Sending and receiving countries (sending and receiving refer to migrants coming in or leaving) have different market needs. Unequal development is the reason for this. Countries that send workers normally have a large population, a tight job market, and low wages. The gaps between developed countries and undeveloped countries causes wage level differences. Thus, migration is caused because capitalism is not equal throughout all countries of the world. However, it has been asserted recently that structural theory cannot explain the "individual" aspects. Migrant workers are psychologically progressive which makes them more money to go abroad.

It is difficult to explaine why some workers from the Dominican Republic come to Korea instead of the USA or Canada. It can be explained however after discovering the connections Korean companies have overseas. The "social network" plays a key role in international labor migration. Unofficial and/or unlawful networking is the current trend. Thus an industry known as the broker industry has developed. For example, Japayukisans are imported by Yakuja gangsters in Japan, and many Chinese get jobs abroad through Chinese mafia, Triad.

International labor network will resist globalization

Yoon-Joo Yi: There are labor condition differences between advanced and under-developed countries. It is also said that restricting migration of labor between countries is not just. Don't you think that discrimination against nationalities of workers benefits global capitalism?

Dong-Hoon Seol: I think it is just that a country restricts undocumented or overstaying foreigners. However, a country has to supply someone to the industries where native workers do not like to work. Therefore, under social accordance, migrant workers should be encouraged to come in and work at a place that needs workers in order to be sustained. Korean migrant policy has a major problem. Most countries in the world do not have more undocumented migrant workers than official migrants.

Two good examples of the freedom of international labor migration are as follows: In Europe, citizens of European Union (EU) member countries can get jobs in whichever EU country they wish. This is possible because the EU member countries do not have very different economic levels. On the contrary, the labor trading in North America suggests how the capitalism works freely across borders but labor is restricted at the borders. Canada, USA, and Mexico have an economic pact known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Under the NAFTA, capital can be invested in any country, but workers can not work in other countries. This benefits capitalists because they may get more profits by transferring the plants to Mexico with its labor costs. The Mexican government may also benefit because illegal border crossings have decreased. On the other hand, working condition in USA and Canada has declined.

It is said that nowadays the borderless economy predominates the world economy. But, there is no freedom for labor migration. The labor market is hard to unite. I think an international labor movement is needed for this to happen. As a joke, they say, 100 years ago Karl Marx asserted, "International Laborers Unite." However, now the capitalists have united and labor is scattered.

Sang-Rin Lee (Secretary General, Migrant Workers House in Sungnam): My House has a shelter. Naturally we have helped many. However, I sometimes regret the help I give them. Some of them have stayed in the shelter for 2 years without working. Some of them do not have a sincere behavior, they are dirty and lazy. Should we help them out?

Dong-Hoon Seol: I do not have an exact answer for that. I can just give you my idea or opinion. A few years ago, I visited the Kanagawa City Union in Yokohama, Japan to meet Mr. Murayama, Secretary General, and Ms. Maria, a counselor. Before meeting them, I had heard some complaints that the union receives money for counseling. It was changed after I visited there. They really received money from members, as a membership fee. The amount was not much. The membership fee obliged the counseling center to have a more positive relationship with the union. I think we can also do something like this. If the fee is not too much, it is better to receive a small membership fee from the workers.

Receiving countries have changed migration polcy from rotation to naturalization

Song-Gun Ahn (Korea Presbyterian Churches Union): Beside of migrant workers, what is your idea of the 'migrant' or 'migration'?

Dong-Hoon Seol: It sounded strange when I heard from a Japanese, "German migrant policy was failed." This viewpoint is drawn from Japan's policy toward migrant workers. We generally think that Germany is a model country having a good migrant system. Since World War II, countries achieving economic prosperity in Europe have received migrant workers.

It is estimated that, up to 1990's, Germany has received about 3 million migrant workers. Why has Germany had so many migrant workers? The principle of German migrant policy is basically "rotation." The German government first tried to cycle the old immigrant workers with new immigrant workers every three years. However, this policy failed because the employers strongly resisted. They wanted to keep them longer as they are skilled. Also, the migrant workers did not want to go back home. In addition, German naturalization policy is based on the bloodline. Thus, the migrants could not be naturalized even if they wanted.

On the other hand, migrants in France could get French nationalities after working there for several years. Therefore, France had more naturalized French than migrants. This shows that the two countries' different policies have differing results. In the 1990's, the legal system regulating migrants in Germany was changed. Turkish second generations who were born in Germany could get German citizenship in 1999. Since then, the number of migrants in Germany has decreased to one million from three million. Regarding to the examples of Germany and France, the key solution to the migrant problem is the Citizenship Law or the Nationality Law.

The reason why this Japanese said the German policy was failed is that they think the migrants are objects who should leave. Germany failed with the rotation system. I think that another rotation policy in Korea will also failed. Korea should someday in the future accept migrants for naturalization.

No one can stop tide of migration

Kum-Ja Jung (counselor, Migrant Workers' House in Sungnam): I heard that overstaying migrants in Japan can make their children to go to public schools. But in Korea, they are treated as criminals. How can the problems of families of migrants be solved?

Dong-Hoon Seol: Since the 15th century when Columbus discovered the American continent, migration started on a small scale. Attempts to solve the problems were different in South and North America. Iberians in South America moved to there for exploring mines. As bachelors, they got married local indigenous people. On the contrary, the British migrated to North America with their families. The pioneers could get very vest territories, but scarcity of labor power remained. They massacred the native American Indians. Otherwise they had to be slaves to the new comers. But the Indians were too weak against disease epidemics.

To supply workers for the the new farmers, Africans were supplied to North America as slaves. After the Civil War, America needed more laborers to construct a railroad. Because Africa was not an abundant supply place of laborers, India and China were targeted for new workers. These workersy, called coolies, were debt-slaves; they had to repay their debt from paying to come to America before they freed.

As the Chinese population steadily increased, the Chinese Exclusion Act was implemented in 1882. The law stipulated that Chinese would not be imported. Many feared that Chinese would be spread in the continent. This fear, called "yellow peril" was the first time the racial discrimination of immigration policy really emerged.

In Germany, since the industrial revolution, the newly developed factories needed a lot of labor power. Workers were supplied from the east of Elbe River, now eastern Germany. After this, the destination of these workers changed to America where more migrants were needed because Chinese were not imported anymore.

Polish people were imported into the vacant rural area in the Germany's east region. But they were seasonal migrants because Germany feared the Poles would integrate the country.

After the First World War, eastern and southern Europeans immigrated to the USA and worked in rural area. They were also seasonal migrant workers, contracted to go back to their home after working for the designated period.

As seen above, every country that has tried to exclude migrants from their own communities has failed. The only exception was in Middle East. Middle Eastern countries imported a lot of migrant workers in the 1970's and 1980's. Then, afraid their countries would be dominated by the large numbers of migrant workers which outnumbered natives, authorities allowed migrants to only stay in the barrack like camps. They perfectly divided the workers from their society.

In Korea and Taiwan, families of migrant workers are prohibited. This is so they cannot to be changed into migrants. In spite of this, I think that migrant workers in Korea will settle in Korea gradually. Because they are human beings, and as the history has shown us, the tide of migration is impossible to stop in the long term.