Yoon Hee-sook Gives Unusual Praise to Lee Jae-myung for Saying 'Pay More to Non-Regular Workers'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Yoon Hee-sook, a member of the United Future Party and chairperson of the party's Economic Innovation Committee, gave an unusual compliment to Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung's 'Zero Discrimination Against Non-Regular Workers' policy, saying it "deserves praise."

On the 23rd, Yoon said on Facebook, "When I announced this plan last month, hardline labor unions and their supporters criticized it by saying non-regular workers are simply something to be eradicated. Considering this, Governor Lee deserves praise as a pragmatic policy implementer."

Earlier, on the 29th of last month, during a special committee plenary meeting regarding the Incheon International Airport Corporation (In-guk-gong) incident, Yoon stated, "If it is the same workplace, non-regular workers should be paid more than regular workers."

Yoon said, "If workers perform the same job and have the same experience, then in a culture that values employment stability, to practically eliminate discrimination, monetary compensation should be higher, which is the essence of 'Zero Discrimination.' It means compensating for employment instability with economic rewards to effectively abolish discrimination."

She added, "Through this, employers will reconsider their excessive reliance on non-regular workers due to cheap labor costs, and workers will have the option to choose between employment security and economic compensation. Looking further ahead, this could be the starting point for a social perception shift recognizing the differences between non-regular and regular workers as different types of workers with distinct characteristics."

Yoon said, "Since wage systems are internal corporate matters, the government cannot enforce them. I hope Governor Lee's experiment proceeds smoothly so that Gyeonggi Province becomes the best practice for zero discrimination against non-regular workers and serves as a turning point to break the dual structure of our country's labor market."