Story I Won't Forget About One Filipino

This is a little hard to write because it makes me a little sad each time I think about it.

These were the laws at the time:

Migrant workers would receive a base pay of 700,000 per month.

For every hour past 8 during the week or 4 on Saturdays, they'd be paid a certain amount extra.


One Filipino man about 35-40 comes to Korea with a work visa. He started working at one factory and worked a lot of hours. At the end of his first month his boss gave him 700,000. He asked about his overtime pay. The boss said he'd pay that starting next month.

The Filipino at some point, I think after the first month, starting keeping track of the number of hours worked. He wrote down some in a notebook. Also he wrote them down on a piece of paper that he put up in the common room. One day the paper wasn't there.

At the end of the second month the boss paid him 800,000 which was his base pay plus an extra 100,000 for overtime. He hadn't calculated the exact amount. At the end of the third month the pay was the same.

The Filipino told me that sometimes they worked as late as midnight.

Sometime during the fourth month he decided to quit. He said the work was making him sick. He didn't say anything about this, but he likely knew that he had better get his pay before telling his boss he wanted to quit.

At the end of his fourth month,the boss, without explanation tried to pay him just 700,000. When he was asked about overtime, he made some unhappy noises and got an extra 100,000 from his wallet. After that the Filipino told him he was quitting. The boss called him a bad name and the Filipino tried to say in Korean, "I'm sick" or "ah-pah-yo."

After all this happened I met the worker. He had come to ask someone's help. He needed someone who spoke Korean to go with him to the government office for migrant workers. One Korean man and I went with him. His situation was explained to the worker's and he obtained permission to leave this job and go to another one. This took some time. After that the Korean man told one young Korean woman working there about his unpaid overtime. Very quickly she asked if there was a record of the hours worked and heard "No." Then she said they couldn't do anything about it. The man turned to us saying okay let's go. He couldn't speak English except a few words and the Filipino couldn't speak any Korean. The Korean man told him it was his "error" so we couldn't try to get the overtime pay. We left quickly and then I regretted later that we didn't stay and try harder to solve this. I still regret it when I think back. He had told a Filipino friend in another country about this. One of them sent him a message saying something like "Be sure to get your overtime pay." Luckily a friend told him about a job which seemed to be better and he went on to work there. 

A Few Stories of Mistreated English Teachers

SOMEONE WHO STAYED IN KOREA FOR SIX YEARS WAS CHEATED OUT OF 3 MILLION BY ONE HAGWON. THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MONEY WAS GOING TO THEIR PENSION BUT AFTER GOING HOME TO THEIR COUNTRY,NEVER RECEIVED IT. AFTER COMING BACK TO KOREA THEY WENT TO A GOVERNMENT OFFICE TO ASK ABOUT IT. THEY SAID THIS PERSON'S NAME HAD NEVER BEEN REGISTERED WITH THEM, THEREFORE THERE WAS NO PENSION AND NO REFUND COMING. THE HAGWON WAS CLOSED SO THERE WAS NO WAY TO TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT.  

SEEMS LIKE EVERY TEACHER I MEET HAS A STORY TO TELL. A FEW MONTHS AGO I MET TWO YOUNG FEMALE TEACHERS WHO HAD FINISHED A YEAR AT A HAGWON THEY SAID WAS BAD. THEY SAID IT HAD BEEN HARD ON THEM BUT THEY DIDN'T REALLY EXPLAIN WHY OTHER THAN SAYING THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE PLACE WERE TOO HARD TO WORK FOR. ONE THING THEY TOLD ME I DO REMEMBER: THEY SAID ONE TEACHER HAD WORKED FOR EIGHT MONTHS AND WANTED TO LEAVE TO GO TO A FAMILY REUNION. THEY GAVE ONE MONTH'S NOTICE BUT THE HAGWON SAID THEY SHOULD'VE GIVEN TWO MONTHS SO KEPT ONE MONTH'S SALARY. THE TWO TEACHERS TOLD ME THAT THIS TEACHER WENT HOME WITH A BAD OPINION OF KOREANS.  

I MET SOMEONE ON THE TRAIN NEAR DAEJON ABOUT A YEAR AGO WHO TOLD ME THEY HAD RECENTLY QUIT THEIR HAGWON. THEY SAID SIX TEACHERS QUIT IN ONE DAY. THERE WERE DIFFERENT PROBLEMS BUT ONE THING I REMEMBER IS THIS: THIS TEACHER SAID THAT ONCE WHEN A NEW SCHEDULE WAS MADE THEY SAW THAT THEY WERE TEACHING 45 HOURS A WEEK EVEN THOUGH THE CONTRACT SAID 30.WHEN THEY TALKED TO THE BOSS ABOUT IT, THE BOSS SAID TO "BE A TEAMPLAYER." 

ONE TEACHER FEATURED ABOVE UNFORTUNATELY ALSO HAD A PROBLEM AT ANOTHER WORKPLACE THEY ASKED ME NOT TO GIVE THE NAME OF. DURING SUMMER OR WINTER THE TEACHERS WERE TOLD TO TEACH AT A CAMP AND THAT THEY'D GET THE SALARY FROM CAMP IN ADDITION TO THEIR OWN SALARY. AFTER CAMP THEY GOT PAID FOR IT AND WENT BACK TO WORK. THEN A SUPERIOR SOMEHOW LET THEM KNOW THEY WOULDN'T GET THEIR REGULAR PAY. A GROUP OF THEM WENT TO COURT. THEY HIRED ONE KOREAN LAWYER TO REPRESENT THEM. IN THE END THE JUDGE TOOK THEIR EMPLOYER'S SIDE.