The rise and fall of independent immigrant worker unionism: A case study of the Migrants Trade Union in South Korea

Abstract

Our study examines how the Migrants Trade Union, symbolizing the unionism of independent immigrant workers, was formed and has evolved in South Korea. This case study shows that immigrant workers are organizable. Independent unionization of immigrant workers has been achieved under the very hostile environment of the Korean government’s restrictionist immigration labor policy and union suppression. The independent immigrant workers’ unionism has grown remarkably from the Equality Trade Union – Migrant Branch to the Migrants Trade Union in a short period, but its achievements through the intense struggles of immigrant workers at the bottom of the labor market remain fragile. Furthermore, its core essence – organizational subjectivity – is faltering in the face of many formidable obstacles from both inside and outside the union. The rise and fall of independent immigrant worker unionism in Korea are explained by five interacting factors: the government’s immigration labor policy; the behavioral orientations of immigrant workers; the migrant workers support movement; the indigenous labor movement; and the immigrant workers’ struggles.