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www.groovekorea.com / March 2014 30 Edited by Elaine Ramirez (elaine@groovekorea.com) INSIghT Migrant workers protest their exploitative employers Story by anita mckay / Photo by aimee anne Taking a stand I first met Emmanuel outside a Burger King on a cold February day in Yeo- uido. Dressed in traditional Burkina Faso clothing, he seemed slightly anxious. Standing with him were five of his coworkers, some dressed as elabo- rately as he was, others holding drum- like instruments decorated with metal chains. As we watched the media frenzy gather outside the Saenuri headquarters opposite us, their conversation began to give way to nerves. After almost two years of working and living in slave-like conditions, Emmanuel and his cowork- ers were about to inform the nation of their experience working for the Africa Museum of Original Art. Since their public announcement on Feb. 10, the exploitation endured by the workers from Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso at the AMOA has grabbed much media attention. The inadequate pay, grueling work hours and dilapidated liv- ing conditions suffered by the African dancers, sculptors and performers were made all the more startling because a senior lawmaker, Secretary-General Hong Moon-jong of the Saenuri Par- ty, has been chairman of the museum since 2010. After one Burkina Faso worker ran away after being forced to dance with an injured leg or risk having her pay cut, the rest of the performers had their passports confiscated by the now ex-director of the museum, Park Sang-soon. Following the protest, Park and Hong issued separate statements. Park claimed that the contracts were made in compliance with the legal minimum wage and admitted to taking passports away as a precaution because “migrant workers often tend to disappear and stay illegally.” Hong has denied any di- rect involvement in managerial duties of the museum, but said that if any illegal activity is found to have occurred, he would punish those involved and com- pensate the victims. In an int erview with the Hankyoreh, Democratic Party law- maker Eun Su-mi said that around 10 violations of the law took place. “The contract said if you come to Ko- rea, you will perform three times per day and the museum will give us food three times per day, insurance, a house, ev- erything. Everybody would get one room each with one computer. We arrived and it was not like that,” Emmanuel recalled. Instead, what awaited him and his Burkinabe coworkers was a decrep- it building wrought with holes, mold and mice. Rooms were shared with up to four people, and using a fan in the summer or heating in the winter could result in being docked pay. “If you use a fan and the electricity bill comes and it is big, the museum director would say if we don’t stop, he will cut our salary,” he said. On top of these living conditions, the workers were told they would have to
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