• A migrant worker’s human rights and labor rights are protected by the ‘International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families’.

Under the Convention (No. 143) concerning migrations in abusive conditions and the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment of migrant workers by the International Labor Organization (ILO), all migrant workers’ rights including their right to organize and equal treatment without discrimination are protected.

The Constitution of Korea obviously guarantees the three primary labor rights of workers by stating in Article 33, “To enhance working conditions, workers shall have the right to independent association, collective bargaining and collective action’. This is in order to enhance workers’ social and economic status by having their own organization (trade union) to make collective decisions in equal relationship with their employers.

An individual worker’s power is weak, but workers can be strengthened if they are united with a trade union of their own. The three primary labor rights are 1) right to organize (right to have an organization), 2) right to collective bargaining (right to have collective bargaining with employers), and 3) right to collective action (right to have collective action such as strike for actualizing the interest of trade union).