High-risk work, cultural conflicts and labor mobility: The experiences of foreign workers in the shipyard industry on the Korean East Coast

One of the most influential theories of embedded workplace is Stephen Frenkel’s macro-, meso- and micro-linkages. Indeed, the current neoliberal economic hegemony in Korea engenders an environment in which foreign workers have the right, albeit a restricted right, to move from one job to another. However, it is far more complicated on the micro-level than he argued, if we take into consideration the nature of foreign workers, with combined workplace and living space. Using a theory that considers structural factors such as industry-specific features, that is, high-risk work, ethnic hierarchy, fixed low pay, and so on, this study illustrates that the way that foreign workers are managed in the workplace and the living space and the way that the different ethnic groups of foreign workers interact among each other have a significant bearing on the mobility of foreign workers in the Korean shipyard industry. In order for foreign workers to remain with companies, policies are required to assess living and working conditions, to enhance the management paradigm and to recognize and resolve conflicts among the workers. Consideration must be given to the fact that foreign workers are more likely to be assigned to high-risk work than Korean workers without appropriate incentives. Discrimination against foreign workers by Korean workers and cultural conflicts among the various ethnic groups of foreign workers must also be significantly addressed and dealt with.