A survey in South Korea showed that 64% of migrant workers in shipbuilding industry want to change jobs

Shipbuilders urged to improve labor conditions

Six out of 10 migrant workers at Korea's domestic shipyards hope to change their jobs due to their low wages and tough labor conditions, according to a recent survey by the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), the Korea Times reported.

In the survey of 410 foreign workers from 10 countries, who work at the shipyards of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, 63.7 percent of the respondents answered that they intend to change their jobs to sectors other than shipbuilding.

Among them, 67.2 percent pointed out the low salary compared to the intensity of the labor, and 34.9 percent complained about being paid less than their Korean colleagues. In addition, 23.9 percent expressed concerns over the safety of their working environments.

In particular, 60 percent of high-skilled migrant shipbuilding workers answered that they want to change their jobs, causing concerns for the government in its efforts to address the labor shortage at local shipyards by increasing the visa quota for skilled foreign workers.

“For shipbuilders to secure their foreign workforce stably, they should prioritize paying more to their subcontracted employees and improving their labor conditions,” the KMWU said in its report on the survey.
Some migrant workers said that they are victims of employment fraud.

A Myanmar national working at an Ulsan shipyard claimed that he signed a labor contract in his country last year, which stated that he would receive 2.7 million won ($2,000) per month, but since arriving in Korea earlier this year, he has been paid 2 million won every month.

The pay cut was partly because of the Ministry of Justice's temporary measure announced in January to allow small companies to pay 70 percent of the previous year’s gross national income per capita to employees holding the E-7 visa.

Even considering the measure, the worker was supposed to receive at least 2.46 million won per month, but his employer has only paid 2 million won in base wages and 300,000 won in extra pay, while deducting 200,000 won for meals and 100,000 won for lodgings.

The worker and other Myanmar nationals paid less than expected said that their employers, agents and the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul have reiterated that they should sign new labor contracts if they want to keep working in Korea.

“The migrant workers were aware of the difference in labor contracts signed here and in their own countries, but they had no choice but to sign the new one to stay in Korea,” said a member of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ subcontracted workers’ union.

The KMWU urged major shipbuilders, such as HD Hyundai, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries, to fulfill their responsibilities by improving the labor and residential conditions of migrant shipbuilding workers.

“Despite financial support from the government, the shipbuilders have remained reluctant to hire full-time blue-collar workers, relying more on subcontracted and outsourced labor,” the union said. “The shipbuilders should therefore make efforts to increase wages of subcontracted workers at their shipyards and protect the basic rights of migrant workers.”