E/C.12/KOR/CO/4 35. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Address the root causes of women’s career interruptions and their overrepresentation in part-time employment, due to care responsibilities; (b) Assess the effectiveness of measures taken, such as the sufficiency of the number of day-care services, the take-up of flexible work arrangements and paternity leave and the enforcement of quotas, and take remedial measures; (c) Monitor the implementation of the provisions on equal pay for work of equal value of the equal employment act, including by conducting cross-sectoral job evaluations. Migrant workers 36. Noting the information provided by the State party that a number of migrant workers do manage to change employment, the Committee remains concerned that the conditions set in the employment permit system, restricting and subjecting employment change to the authorization of employers, render migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation. The Committee is further concerned at reports of the exploitation of migrant workers in agriculture and fisheries that in many cases amounts to forced labour (arts. 6 and 7). 37. The Committee recommends that the State party abolish the restriction on the change of employment for migrant workers under the employment permit system. Furthermore, bearing in mind its recommendation on the coverage of the labour legislation, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that labour and social security rights are protected and respected in the fisheries and agricultural sectors, including by preventing the practice of passport confiscation, investigating reports of the exploitation, de facto detention and physical abuse of migrant workers, and bringing perpetrators to justice. The Committee encourages the State party to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention 1930 (No. 29) and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention 1957 (No. 105). Right to strike 38. The Committee is concerned about (a) the restrictive criteria for legal strikes, which effectively bar the exercise of the right to strike in the State party; (b) reports of reprisals against workers participating in industrial action, including the continued prosecution of workers through civil and criminal actions on account of “obstruction of business”; and (c) the broad definition of “essential services” in which workers are not allowed to strike (art. 8). 39. The Committee recommends that the State party ease the conditions for conducting legal strikes and restrict the scope of the definition of essential services so as to ensure the effective exercise of the right to strike. It also recommends that the State party refrain from actions that lead to violations of the right to strike and conduct independent investigations on allegations of reprisals against workers participating in industrial action. Trade union rights 40. While noting the legislation allowing the plurality of trade unions, the Committee is concerned at reports that it has been used by companies to weaken the power of workers in collective bargaining. The Committee is also concerned at legal provisions, such as those on the membership of dismissed workers, which hamper the independent functioning of trade unions. Moreover, it is concerned that workers in non-regular forms of employment, which make up the majority of the labour force in the State party, are not authorized to form or join trade unions (art. 8). 41. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the plurality of trade unions is not used by companies to weaken the power of workers in collective bargaining. The Committee also recommends that the State party make the necessary legislative amendments to guarantee the right of all persons to form and join trade unions freely and to prevent arbitrary interference in the functioning of trade unions. 6