Listening to the Challenges Faced by Young Workers
Reforming the Abuse of Comprehensive Wage System and Annual Leave Promotion System
The youth leadership of the People Power Party held a 'chimaek meeting' with MZ unions on the 24th, together with government and presidential office officials, and agreed to reform issues such as companies' abuse of the comprehensive wage system and the annual leave usage promotion system. President Yoon Suk-yeol personally made a phone call during the meeting to listen to the difficulties of young workers and promised to reflect them from the policy design stage.
Kim Byung-min, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party, said to reporters at a pub in Jongno-gu, Seoul, after the 'Youth Party-Government-Presidential Office Meeting' in the afternoon, "As the meeting was wrapping up, I received a call from President Yoon, who said that if we share the difficulties and hopes of young workers, he will carefully reflect them from the policy design stage," adding, "He emphasized labor-management rule of law and said it is important to create laws and systems well."
On the 24th, Kim Byung-min, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party, and Jang Ye-chan, Youth Supreme Council Member, are drinking beer and conversing at a pub in Jongno-gu, Seoul, during the "Meeting for the Future of Working Youth." The meeting was attended by executives of the so-called "MZ Union," known as the "Saerogochim Workers' Council," as well as youth officers from the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. (Photo by Yonhap News)
Kim also added, "It seems President Yoon made the call to express interest after receiving a report on today's meeting," and "We talked about refreshing and future directions."
This event was organized for youth figures belonging to the Party-Government-Presidential Office Meeting to directly hear voices from the labor field. From the party side, Supreme Council members Kim Byung-min and Jang Ye-chan attended; from the government, Jo Ah-ra, a secretary at the Ministry of Employment and Labor; and from the presidential office, administrative officers Kim Seong-yong and Yeo Myung in their 30s from the Civil Society Secretariat participated. Representatives of the so-called 'MZ unions,' known as the 'Saerogochim Workers' Council,' included Song Si-young, chairman of the Seoul Transportation Corporation's Proper Union, Yoo Ha-ram, chairman of Samsung Display's Open Union, and Park Jae-min, chairman of Korail Networks' union.
At the meeting, the Party-Government-Presidential Office group reviewed the side effects of the comprehensive wage system and the abuse of the annual leave usage promotion system by companies, and agreed to reform related systems. Chairman Yoo said, "The comprehensive wage system is used in companies where time calculation is difficult, but even companies where it is easy are abusing this, so we requested improvements." The annual leave usage promotion system will also be supplemented to address the issue where companies encourage vacation use but do not pay for unused annual leave, contrary to the original intent.
Supreme Council member Kim emphasized, "The People Power Party's platform states that it is a society where all workers are respected," adding, "Although each person belongs to different parties, governments, companies, and workplaces, their concerns are the same. I hope this will be a good opportunity to solve these issues well and implement them in policies."
Chairman Song said, "I hope the government's labor policies proceed correctly," and added, "As a worker directly working in the field, I will raise better voices to narrow the gap between the reality felt by workers and the government, and strive to ensure that the government's labor policies follow the right path."
This meeting is interpreted as a measure to raise the support rate of the MZ generation for the government and ruling party. This is because the youth support rate dropped to the 10% range after the government recently announced a plan to revise working hours to a maximum of 69 hours per week. According to a Gallup Korea survey released on the 17th (conducted March 14?16), the support rate for the People Power Party among 18?29-year-olds was 13%, down 11 percentage points from the previous survey (24%). For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.
The Party-Government-Presidential Office Meeting plans to continue holding meetings with young people, starting with this working hours system reform plan. It is expected to support government policies and discover youth policies by directly listening to young people's voices.
Supreme Council member Jang said, "It is meaningful that a platform called the Youth Party-Government-Presidential Office Meeting was established because the presidential office and government actively responded when the party requested it," emphasizing, "Starting with chimaek with Saerogochim, the youth-led Party-Government-Presidential Office Meeting will visit the field more often, not Yeouido, to meet non-union workers and young employees of small and medium-sized enterprises where unions are not organized."
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