Mark, from Paete, Laguna in the Philippines, applied to be a seasonal worker in South Korea after seeing an advertisement that offered 85,000 pesos (about 2.07 million won) for a month in early 2023. Mark entered Korea in April 2023 and cultivated watermelons and peppers in Yanggu County, Gangwon Province. The original contract was for an 8-hour workday, but in reality, he worked 11 hours a day. There was no overtime pay.
Mark deposited 60,000 pesos (about 1.46 million won) to a Korean broker in the name of visa issuance, travel insurance, and health examinations, and also signed a contract stating, "If the contract is not completed, the guarantor will pay 500,000 pesos (about 12.15 million won)." Additionally, he paid the broker a basic commission of 1.44 million won and a total of 216,000 won for 5 months of overtime, at 240,000 won per month. Under current regulations, brokers cannot be involved in the recruitment and dispatch of seasonal workers or receive money from them.
As the United States strengthens investigations into forced labor practices in Asia, including Korea, concerns have been raised that the participation of foreign workers in the production of goods and agricultural and fisheries products for export to the U.S. may be disrupted, with illegal brokers identified as one of the causes of forced labor issues.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can prohibit the import of products found to violate 11 forced labor indicators established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) during the production process.
▲Exploitation of vulnerability ▲Movement restrictions ▲Fraud ▲Harsh living and working conditions ▲Refusal to pay wages ▲Excessive overtime are also included in the forced labor indicators, and such occurrences frequently happen with foreign seasonal workers involved with brokers. Some brokers confiscate passports to prevent seasonal workers from escaping.
The Foreign Workers' Movement Council filed a collective complaint with the Gangwon Provincial Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on behalf of 91 Filipino seasonal workers who worked in Yanggu County, like Mark, on the 30th of last month regarding unpaid wages. The total number of foreign workers who came from the Philippines to Yanggu County is 1,017 in 2023 and 2024, including 476 in 2023 and 541 in 2024, with an estimated amount exceeding 2 billion won extorted by brokers.
The Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) suspended manpower dispatch twice last year in January and November to address this issue.
As the poor management of foreign seasonal workers escalated into an international issue, Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor directed the establishment of a dedicated team to commence an investigation on the 1st of this month. The ministry reports that brokers have exploited commissions by intervening between farms and foreign workers.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor recently concluded investigations into the complainants (Filipino seasonal workers) and the respondents (brokers), and is set to investigate whether the brokers violated the intermediate exploitation exclusion clause under the Labor Standards Act. According to the Ministry of Justice's guidelines, it is a serious violation for individuals or organizations to receive compensation in exchange for performing tasks related to the recruitment and dispatch of workers.
The involved broker claims to be a legal firm registered with the Philippines' DMW, but Minister Hans Candac of the DMW stated that this entity is an illegal firm not listed in the DMW databases. Information about the broker's office being sued by victims was also false.
The issue of foreign seasonal workers and brokers is also being closely monitored by the United States. Last year, the U.S. State Department's trafficking in persons report stated that "brokers recruiting seasonal workers in Korea impose excessive fees of thousands of dollars on workers, enabling debt-based forced labor. They have contributed to forced labor among migrant workers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Mongolia."
The Philippine government's ban on manpower dispatch in protest has also been recognized by the U.S.
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[Management blind spots in foreign labor]
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