“Put up 11 million won as collateral and roamed the country for work”···‘Why does the “modern-day slavery” of seasonal workers keep recurring?’ - 경향신문

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Dangjin seasonal worker Hasan files complaints against brokers·employers, etc.

Hasan (left), a seasonal worker from Bangladesh, is handing complaint·accusation documents to an official at the Cheonan Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 14th, calling for an investigation into suspected labor exploitation and protection for victims. Provided by the Asan Migrant Workers Center

Bangladeshi seasonal workers who entered Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, claim they were unable to meet the employers named in their labor contracts and, under the control of brokers, were shuttled across multiple regions and subjected to long working hours. Critics say the state should move away from policies fixated on preventing workers’ unauthorized departures and establish a public management system in which the government takes responsibility from recruitment and dispatch to employment oversight.

According to the Daejeon-Chungcheong Migrant Human Rights Solidarity and others on the 25th, Hasan (32), a seasonal worker from Bangladesh, filed a complaint with the Cheonan Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 14th against brokers and the employer listed in his labor contract. He is seeking an investigation into suspected human trafficking and labor exploitation of seasonal workers and protection for victims.

According to Hasan, a group of 35 Bangladeshi workers, including himself, entered Dangjin last April. Before entry, two family guarantors submitted bank cashier’s checks as collateral totaling 1 million taka (500,000 taka each), which is roughly equivalent to about 11 million won in Korean currency. They also signed a pledge that the deposit would be seized if the worker left the workplace or failed to return home after the permitted stay.

He says the contract drawn up after arrival listed the farm where he would work, but in reality he moved around to multiple regions. For more than two months, he did farm work not only in Dangjin but also in Seosan, Taean, and Hongseong in South Chungcheong Province, as well as in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, and parts of North Jeolla Province. He would wake up around 3~4 a.m., take a bus to the work site, and, because of long hours and long-distance travel, suffered from persistent sleep deprivation.

Hasan said, “After arriving, I was handed over to another broker, and I never even met the actual employer of the farm written in the contract.” He added, “Although the contract listed both an hourly wage and a monthly salary, right after arrival the payment method was changed to a daily wage of 80,000 won, and in addition to lodging and transportation and other various expenses, 60,000 won per month was deducted as a ‘management fee’ that was not in the contract.”

Woo Sam-yeol, head of the Asan Migrant Workers Center, said, “Eleven seasonal workers have come to the center to seek counseling over exploitation,” adding, “We estimate that around 20 workers left job sites because they could not endure the poor working conditions.”

Members of the Daejeon-Chungcheong Migrant Human Rights Solidarity hold a press conference in front of the Cheonan Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 14th, calling for fact-finding and a strict investigation into allegations of human trafficking·labor exploitation of seasonal workers. Provided by the Asan Migrant Workers Center

Foreign seasonal workers were fully introduced in 2017 to ease rural labor shortages, and the number assigned has continued to rise.

Data obtained from the Ministry of Justice show that the number of assigned foreign seasonal workers was only 261 in 2016, when it was a pilot program. It then surged year by year to 7,340 in 2021, 19,718 in 2022, 40,647 in 2023, and 57,269 in 2024, before jumping to 95,596 last year and 117,113 this year. That is about a 449-fold increase compared with ten years ago.

The problem is that cases of long working hours and human rights violations among seasonal workers keep recurring.

The Ministry of Justice inspected 3,093 workplaces in 29 cities, counties, and districts nationwide that had admitted large numbers of seasonal workers between April~June, checking for human rights violations, compliance with labor conditions, and housing conditions. Violations totaling 663 were found at 603 workplaces across 24 local governments. In South Chungcheong Province, inspections of 135 workplaces in three jurisdictions (Nonsan, Seocheon, and Yesan) identified 53 violations in total, including four related to labor and 49 related to housing, at 34 workplaces in two local governments.

Despite repeated criticism of seasonal workers’ poor working conditions, the problems remain unresolved even a decade after the program’s introduction. A Ministry of Justice official said, “Each immigration·foreigner office and branch shared inspection results with local governments and requested corrections to the issues pointed out,” adding, “Depending on the severity of the violations, measures such as assigning demerit points to employers and issuing cautions to local governments were also taken.”

Experts point out that persistent harm is largely driven by a labor supply system that relies on private agencies rather than the public sector. Because the seasonal worker program is carried out through cooperation agreements between domestic local governments and foreign local governments, brokers intervene in recruitment, dispatch, job placement, and wage payment to extract profits, and this structure repeatedly produces labor exploitation.

Labor consultant Jo Yun-hee said, “The fundamental cause is that the program’s public nature has not been ensured and policy focus remains fixed only on preventing workers from leaving,” adding, “Like the Employment Permit System for foreign workers, the state should take responsibility for management and operation. The government should conduct a full survey of broker involvement in sending countries, and local governments and relevant ministries must also continuously investigate whether there are any human rights violations such as departure deposits and any breaches of labor laws.”