A Seoul appellant court overturned a lower court ruling which backed the government’s refusal of a registration statement filed by the Migrant Trade Union (KCTU) on 1 Feb, 2007. Last year, the Ministry of Labour rejected MTU’s filed registration statement with the reason that migrant workers could not enjoy the labour rights such as collective bargaining, industrial action and the right to unionize due to their legal status so called “undocumented”, so the Migrant Trade Union consisting of undocumented migrant workers could not be considered a trade union.

However the Seoul High Court pointed out that there was no legal ground that the government requested the MTU to file the list of the union’s members, and affirmed that even undocumented migrant workers have the right to unionize regardless of their legal status.

The court ’ s decision shows the Ministry of Labour ignored the rights of migrant workers and they act as if they were an entity under the Ministry of Law. We call upon Korean government not to violate the labour rights of migrant workers regard of their legal status anymore and guarantee the rights of 400 thousands migrant workers staying in Korea.

Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) reiterates that the court decision is right. We call upon the Ministry of Labour to approve the migrant workers union and guarantee their activity.

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February 1, 2007