AAS-in-Asia, Seoul

Seeing Ghosts: The Struggle for Thai Migrant Workers' Rights in Korea

• In Event: Border Crossings, (Non-) Citizenship, and Rights

Abstract

Many of the migrant workers in South Korea come from the global south in South and Southeast Asia. The undocumented Thai migrant workers call themselves "ghost people." They work in plastics and automotive part industries, vegetable and animal farms, dry food processing, construction, massage services, and day labor. While their productivity contributes to the Korean and global economies, their remittances have also helped supplement domestic low wages. Problems arise- for migrant labor advocates in finding avenues for rights, for workers themselves to access their labor rights, and for government agencies that are increasingly operating under anti-trafficking enforcement regimes. Do advocates use labor rights as "portable" regardless of legal status? According to fieldwork in 2015, including over 80 interviews of workers, migrant worker advocates, and Thai government officials, making such distinctions clear have different social consequences in terms of accessing effective justice strategies for litigation and for holding corporate/private employers responsible, as well as for determining supply chain responsibility in cases involving product-oriented industries. Migrant and noncitizen immigrant workers have limited access to rights due to their legal status, hence the importance of examining advocacy groups and trade unions that make Thai migrant/immigrant workers visible in the public sphere through protests, testimonies at the National Assembly, and media.

Author

• Sudarat Musikawong, Mahidol University