Chairperson Seok Hyunjung: "The Government Must Offer a Sincere Apology to Public Sector Workers"
Seok Hyunjung, Chairperson of the Korean Government Employees' Union Federation, is speaking. Photo by Korean Government Employees' Union Federation
The Korean Government Employees' Union Federation (Chairperson Seok Hyunjung, hereinafter referred to as the Federation) held a joint press conference with the Korean Government Employees' Union (Chairperson Lee Haejun) on October 15, in the area around the Ministry of Personnel Management at the Sejong Government Complex. The event was held to denounce the Ministry of Personnel Management's lukewarm response to the issue of income gaps for retired public officials.
According to the Federation, when the Public Officials Pension Act was revised in 2015, the government promised to come up with measures to address the income gap for retired public officials. The Federation has persistently demanded that the government fulfill this promise. Through the Federation's efforts in negotiations and protests, the government agreed in 2023 to rehire retirees as general fixed-term employees as a solution to the income gap, and promised to implement this plan in 2024. However, the government continued to delay the implementation despite repeated demands from the Federation. When the Federation held rallies, press conferences, tent protests, and one-person demonstrations in the vicinity of the Ministry from March 2024, the then-Minister of Personnel Management gave a firm commitment to implement the plan within 2024. Nevertheless, the Federation criticized the government for continuing to evade responsibility even more than a year later.
Therefore, the Federation held this press conference both to denounce the Ministry of Personnel Management for its passive attitude and refusal to fulfill its promises regarding the income gap for retired public officials, and to once again demand that the government immediately prepare effective measures to address this issue.
The press conference included a keynote speech by Chairperson Seok Hyunjung, an on-site statement by Yoon Byeongcheol, Vice Chairperson of the National Government Employees' Union (hereinafter referred to as the National Union), which is affiliated with the Federation, and a joint statement read by Kang Sunha, Chairperson of the Federation of Metropolitan City and Provincial Government Employees' Unions (hereinafter referred to as the Metropolitan Federation), also affiliated with the Federation.
The participants strongly criticized the Ministry of Personnel Management and called on the government to immediately come up with effective measures to address the income gap for retired public officials.
Chairperson Seok Hyunjung stated, "The government has broken its promises to public sector workers who have willingly sacrificed their own retirement for the sake of the people, treating their plight with indifference. This evokes an unbearable sense of anger. Even if the government repeatedly breaks its promises and tries to cover up the truth, it cannot hide the dedication of public sector workers who have made sacrifices for the people," adding, "The government has lied countless times, and as a result, public sector workers who have devoted their entire lives to the nation and its people have been driven to the edge of a retirement income cliff."
She continued, "We have demanded that the government honor its promises based on the trust of public sector workers, but it was the government itself that broke that trust. The government must immediately prepare practical measures to address the income gap, and must sincerely apologize to the 1.2 million public sector workers for its continued indifference."
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