SULYAPINOY Online Forum

Korea to ease visa rules for migrant workers

Dated -- 01-02-2012 17:58 By Lee Tae-hoon

The government will allow migrant workers, most likely from June this year, to change their workplaces without restrictions if they experienced discrimination at work or employers violated labor laws, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.

Rep. Kang Sung-chun of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) noted that migrant workers with an E-9 visa will also need only to stay in their home countries for three months to renew their work visa, instead of the current six months, from the time their work permit expires.

The labor-activist-turned politician submitted a bill that would ease restrictions on work visas for migrants in October and the legislation passed the National Assembly in a floor vote of 163-0 with one abstention last Thursday.

The bill will take effect five months after promulgation which is expected to take place within days.

�I proposed the bill in hopes of preventing diligent migrant workers from receiving unfair treatment during their stay here and encouraging them to return to Korea,� Kang said.

The workers have been permitted to change their workplaces only up to three times during their first-three year work permit here and twice more if they extend their visa for another two years.

This left room for employers to infringe on the rights of migrant workers, who are vulnerable to salary gouging, harassment and overtime work without due financial compensation.

Once the new legislation enters into force, they will be able to switch their jobs as much as they need if their employer breaches regulations to be set by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL).

A considerable number of foreigners have been expelled from the country as a result of circumstances where they had no choice but to walk out of their workplaces.

The number of E-9 visas, a non-professional work permit granted mostly for jobs that most Koreans avoid, issued in 2008 …

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Workers in workplaces with 4 workers or less can receive retirement benefits from
December 1

By Gennie Kim, Sulyapinoy Online Forum Adviser

From December 1, workers retiring from workplaces with four workers or less can receive retirement benefits.

* There are 963,366 workplaces ordinarily employing four workers or less, and 1,618,923 workers employed in such workplaces.

According to the Enforcement Decree of the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act amended on September 29, 2010, the Retirement Benefit System expanded to cover workers in workplaces ordinarily employing four workers or less on December 1, 2010.

* The coverage of retirement benefits was extended from workplaces with 30 workers or more in 1961 to those with 16 workers or more in 1975, and then to those with five workers or more in 1989.

However, retirement benefits are paid to workers who have worked for at least one consecutive year. Therefore, actual payments are made on or after December 1, 2011 when one year has passed since the amendment came into effect.

The level of retirement benefits will stay at 50% of the statutory retirement pay of the worker concerned until December 31, 2012, and then be raised to 100% at the beginning of 2013.

This gradual increase in the level of benefits is intended to soften the impact on workplaces with four workers or less given their small business scale, their employers' weak ability to pay, and negative employment effects that might be caused.

Under the current law, an employer should introduce either the retirement pay system or a retirement pension plan (defined benefit type or defined contribution type).

In the case of workplaces with four workers or less, which tend to have a short cycle of creation and extinction and frequently delay payment of wages, introducing a retirement pension plan is desirable in terms of a stronger guarantee of workers' right to receive retirement benefits.

* Under a retirement pension plan, an …

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FEWA"s Relief Operation for Typhoon Sendong Victims

Isa sa kaugalian nating mga Pilipino ang pagiging masiyahin, matiyaga at matibay na pananalig sa Diyos. Isa rin dito ang bayanihan at pagkakaisa sa anumang hamon ng buhay.

Noong ika-17 ng Disyembre,2011, di inaasahang trahedya ang naganap sa Cagayan de Oro City at Iligan Citydala ng Bagyong Sendong na tumama sa nasabing lugar at nagdulot ng malaking pinsala.Ang karamihang biktimaay mga bata na umabot sa humigit kumulang 1,000 katao ang namatay at mga ari-ariang nawala at nawasak sa isangiglap sa hagupit ng bagyo.

Mula po sa FEWA (Filipino EPS Workers Association) ay humihingi ng tulong para sa ating mga kababayang nasalanta at para madugtungan ang kanilang mga pangangailangan.

Ano man pong makakatulong ay tatangapin po ng FEWA tulad ng mga canned goods, noodles, mga damit at kumot o anumang maaring gamitin.

Maari po ninyong ibigay ito sa FEWA Office, Woori Bank 2nd Floor, Hyewa-dong Branch, Seoul Korea kada Linggo ng 10:OOAM to 4:00 PM

Sa mga cash donation,maari po lamang ihulog sa account ng FEWA:

Account Name: Arquiza Maria REgina
Bank Account: Woori Bank
Account Number: 1002-045-165762

Mangyari lamang po na ipagbigay alam kay Mr. Benjie Del Mundo-FEWA President sa email-- benjiedelmundo0216@yahoo.com -- ang pangalan at tel number ng nagbigay donasyon para sa kumpirmasyon ng donasyon.

Ang FEWA's Relief Operation for Typhoon Sendong Victims ay hanggang January 15, 2010 lamang po.

maraming salamat po sainyong lahat.

Filipino EPS Workers Association (FEWA)

Minimum Wage Council sets 2012 minimum wage per hour

as posted July 25, 2011 by Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL)

At its 13th meeting held from July 12 at 8 p.m. until July 13 at 1:58 a.m., the Minimum Wage Council (Chairman Park Joon-sung) deliberated on the minimum wage applicable in 2012, and set it at 4,580 won an hour, up 260 won or 6.0% from 4,320 won an hour in 2011.

Next year's hourly minimum wage works out to 957,220 won a month for those working 40 hours a week (209 hours a month).

When deliberating and deciding on the minimum wage this time, the Council gave priority to stabilizing the livelihoods of low-paid workers. For instance, the increase rate was set at a higher level than the previous year's 5.1% considering this year's high price increase.

It also took into account micro, small and medium enterprises' ability to pay wages, including the fact that the proportion of enterprises paying less than this year's minimum wage reached 11.5%.

Unlike previous years, both labor and management submitted almost no minimum wage proposals during this year's deliberation process. So the public interest members suggested a range of minimum wages to promote their negotiation and discussion, and urged both sides to negotiate. But they failed to narrow the difference in their positions.

With the statutory deadline (Jun. 29) having passed, the public interest members made their first proposal on July 1 at the request of both labor and management. For all this, things didn't go smoothly as employers' and workers' members resigned or walked out of negotiations.

The Council could not deliberate and decide on the minimum wage at its 10th, 11th and 12th meetings because it lacked a quorum to make decisions.

At the 12th meeting on July 6, the public interest members requested labor and management to submit their final proposal within the suggested range in a week's time, and decided that the minimum wage would be set via a vote on such proposal.

…

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Assistance for the Victims of Typhoon Sendong

Donations to assist the victims of Typhoon Sendong may be sent to the following:

Bank / Branch : Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) / Camp Aguinaldo Branch

Address : PVAO Compound, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines

Account Name : National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Donated Funds

Account No. : 0435-021927-130

Swift Code : DBPHPMM Account #36002016

The focal person for donations is Ms. Rufina Pascual, Collecting Officer of the Office of Civil Defense of Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Philippines. Her contact numbers are (632) 421-1920 and (632) 911-506165.

The NDRRMC (www.ndrrmc.gov.ph) handles overall coordination with other government agencies.

Courtesy of Philipine Embassy - Seoul

The 4th Leaders Forum (with the participation of all the leaders from different communities and groups and which was recognized by Labor Attach� Felicitas Q Bay,) was held last December 03, 2011 at the 2nd floor multi-purpose hall of the Philippine Embassy. The coverage of the said forum was about the following;
I Labor Updates
 Minimum wage for 2012
 Hourly rate 4,580 won
 Daily rate (8hrs/day) 36,340 won
 Monthly rate (40 hr workweek or
209hrs/month ) 957,220 won
(44 hr workweek or 226hrs/month 1,035,080 won
 Special EPS-TOPIK for Re-hired Workers
Qualifications
 Re-employment foreign workers who voluntarily returned home with their employment period granted by the MOEL (applicable to departures after 01 January 2011)- Re-employed means after the second sojourn of their 3 years to complete the 5 years and 10 months or 3 years after plus 1 year and 10 months.
 Age requirement is from 18 to 38 on the closing day of registration
 Available once a quarter at the sending countries� computer based testing center
Candidate Countries
 Vietnam and Thailand
Why Vietnam and Thailand only? Why Philippine is not included?
Because Vietnam and Thailand has a computer based testing center and these are the countries which has the large number of voluntary return. Philippine has no computer based testing center yet and with a small number of voluntary return.
 Efficient cooperation between the sending and receiving country.
Incentives
 Shortening the re-entry period
 Permission to ask for former employees who had previously worked for more than a year
 Exemption from preliminary job training
 Policy guidance on granting professional work status to skilled foreign workers E-9 to E-7.
Qualifications: (must fulfill all of the following)
 Lawfully working in manufacturing, construction or agriculture, livestock and fishery for 4 years or more within …

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