Korean Women's Trade Union

Organized on August 29, 1999, the Korean Women's Trade Union (KWTU) was created to protect the rights of women workers to work and their entitlements to nondiscriminatory working conditions and benefits. Due to the widely enforced practices of "firing women first" during mass lay-offs and the conversion of their status from full-time to part-time, many women workers have been victimized by their companies, the government and the male-dominated trade unions. The KWTU was thus formed to illuminate and overturn the unjust policies and actions enacted against women workers. Currently, the KWTU has 1,500 union members who are involved in the activities of local units of nine major cities including, Seoul, Inchon, Pusan, Kwanju, Buchon, Ansan-Shuheung, Masan-Cangwon, Iksan-Chonju and Taegu. Protecting the rights of many women workers who are often denied membership in other trade union, the KWTU offers membership to all women workers working in any workplace or region. In fact, 71.8 percent of KWTU's membership consists of irregular women workers (Choi, 2000; Song, 2001).

This paper has several objectives. First, the underlying reasons for the formation of the KWTU will be presented. Essentially, the discussion will describe the growing number of women workers in the workforce, their deteriorating work conditions, along with the implementation of discriminatory actions targeting women workers. Issues such as the gender different

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as established to fill in the huge gaps in the current union structure that does not offer sufficient protection and assistance to women workers. First, the KWTU offers membership to all women regardless of their job status, the number of employees at their workplace and the region. Prior to the KWTU, the 89.5 percent of the women workers employed in enterprises with less than 100 employees were unable to organize unions. Irregular women workers and women who change jobs frequently due to their domestic responsibilities were also unable to join the larger enterprise unions. Therefore, by acknowledging the work status, work patterns and the personal needs of women, the KWTU offers lifetime membership to the women workers, which will ensure their continuous protection at the workplace and the growth of the rights of the women workers (Choi, 2001; KWTU, "The Korean Women's Trade Union Has the Following Meanings," p. 1). Second, large male-dominated enterprise unions typically reinforce the patriarchal male perspectives of the society and focus solely on the needs of regular workers. Furthermore, by disregarding women's needs to cater to their domestic responsibilities, they exclude women workers from participating actively in

Category: Foreign - K