The petition
On May 15 MTU President Torna and Vice President Sabur were deported. This was despite the fact that the South Korean National Human Rights Commission had accepted MTU's appeal for a stay of deportation until the full investigation of their arrests was completed that morning. Immigration officials, acting as if they did not know about this decision, despite the fact that the Human Rights Commission had notified the Ministry of Justice by word and later by fax, took the two men out of their cells at 2pm and transported them to the Incheon Airport by 5pm. The men were given notification of the rejection to objections submitted to their detention and deportation only after the deportation was underway.
They were deported at roughly 9:30pm that evening.
This petition originally called for the release of the two MTU leaders. This demand has now been revised to call for an apology for the unlawful deportation.
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Background
On May 2, only one day after workers around the world celebrated May Day, MTU's newly elected president and vice president were forcibly arrested by immigration officers, the president in front of the union office and the vice president at his home. They were deported two weeks later on May 15.
Long-term Attack on MTU
This outrageous act of repression comes only several months after the targeted crackdown against MTU leadership on November 27 of last year in which the former president, vice president and general secretary were all arrested. In the wake of that attack MTU, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and supporters from the labor movement and civil society carried out a 99-day sit-in protest calling for an end to the oppression against migrants and migrant organizing and at the same time rebuilt MTU. On April 6, MTU elected a new leadership, with President Torna at the forefront, and moved forward determined to fight the crackdown against undocumented migrant workers and win migrant workers' labor and human rights.
The new conservative government of Lee Myeong-bak, however, has only strengthened the policy of repression against migrant workers. A mass crackdown against undocumented migrant workers has again begun and Lee Myeong-bak has stated that he will not tolerate undocumented migrant workers' unionizing.
Supreme Court Case
Lee Myeongbak¡¯s statement is a direct reflection of the attitude the South Korean government has taken towards MTU since its founding in 2005. At that time the Ministry of Labor rejected MTU¡¯s official union status, claiming that undocumented migrant workers do not have the right to freedom of association and union activities. MTU carried out a legal battle against this decision and eventually won in the Seoul High Court on 1 February 2007. However this verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court, where a decision is expected to be reached by the middle to end of this year. The Ministry of Labor bases its appeal on the claims that the right of undocumented migrant workers to freedom of association is not protected in the South Korean Constitution or stated clearly in international law. However, we know that workers are workers, entitled to the same labor rights, no matter what country they reside in under what visa status. This was clearly shown in the High Court decision, which ruled that undocumented migrant workers are the subjects of equal labor rights under South Korean law and in rulings of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (UGT [2001], AFL-CTM [2002]) and the Inter-America Court of Human Rights (17 Sept. 2003), which show that international law protects the union rights of undocumented migrant workers.
Stop the Repression!
The arrest and deportation of President Torna, Vice President Sabur and previous union leadership, and the South Korean government¡¯s refusal to recognize MTU¡¯s legal union status are clearly an attempt to break MTU's opposition to oppressive policies towards migrant workers. This repression is not only against MTU, but against migrant workers¡¯ organizing in general and, indeed, the entire labor movement.
We therefore make the following demands:
1. Apologize for the unlawful deportation of President Torna and Vice President Sabur and stop the repression against MTU!
2. In the name of the right to freedom of association of all workers, recognize MTU¡¯s legal union status!
3. Stop the crackdown against legalize all undocumented migrant workers!
This petition will be sent to the South Korean Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labor and relevant departments.
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