[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City is promoting various projects to strengthen the labor rights of working youth.
According to Gwangju City on the 8th, the city will carry out 12 projects in four areas?youth labor rights policy, labor consultation and legal support, labor rights education, and promotion and campaigns?through the Gwangju Youth Labor Rights Center this year.
In particular, to actively respond to COVID-19, new projects such as the ‘Ultra-short Hour Youth Worker Support Fund’ and the ‘Non-face-to-face Visiting Labor Consultation Office’ will be newly operated.
The ‘Ultra-short Hour Youth Worker Support Fund’ is a new project that supports meal and transportation expenses for youth workers who are struggling financially due to not meeting the requirements for weekly holiday pay because of COVID-19. It plans to distribute Gwangju Win-Win Cards worth 100,000 KRW to ultra-short hour youth workers whose employment (contract) period is one month or longer.
The ‘Non-face-to-face Visiting Labor Consultation Office’ project enables individual or group labor consultations via video conferencing through an online consultation office instead of on-site consultation offices, in response to COVID-19.
According to a survey conducted by Gwangju City last year, 82.8% of youth who experienced unfair treatment or human rights violations while working part-time did not take any action, and 9.5% of respondents said the reason for not responding was “not knowing where or how to ask for help,” highlighting the need to expand consultation services.
In addition, the ‘First Part-time Job Success Kit in Life’ project, which started for the first time last year, will also be operated this year.
This project distributes related items to help youth who are starting work for the first time understand labor-related laws correctly and work accordingly. Recipients of the kit are recruited through online applications, and various necessary items such as the ‘Part-time Worker Rights Guidebook’ are provided.
The ‘Youth Part-time Job Friendly Workplace Selection’ project, which began in 2017, will also continue. This project selects workplaces that employ youth workers meeting all five conditions: employment contract, minimum wage, weekly holiday pay, respectful treatment, and worker recommendation. Up to last year, a total of 64 workplaces were selected as youth part-time job friendly workplaces, receiving support such as garbage bag provision and water and sewage fee subsidies.
Lee Bo-geun, the city’s Labor Cooperation Officer, said, “The survey on youth labor rights conducted last year showed that a significant number of youth suffer unfair treatment in poor working environments. We will do our best to improve youth labor rights this year as well.”
Meanwhile, the Gwangju Youth Labor Rights Center was established in April 2016 and carries out various activities for young and youth workers, including raising labor rights awareness and conducting surveys, selecting part-time job friendly workplaces, labor rights campaigns, visiting labor consultation offices, and training labor rights instructors.
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