What Will Happen to School Meals and After-School Care?... School Non-Regular Workers to Hold General Strike on 20-21

Alternative meals are being provided at a middle school due to a strike by the non-regular workers' union. Photo by The Asia Business Daily

School non-regular workers have decided to launch a relay general strike on November 20-21 and December 4-5, following a breakdown in collective wage negotiations with the education authorities. The strike, which includes school meal service workers and after-school care workers among the non-regular school staff, is expected to disrupt school meal services and after-school care programs.

The National Education Public Workers’ Headquarters, the Korean Women Workers Association, and the National School Irregular Workers’ Union, which together form the National School Irregular Workers’ Solidarity Conference (Solidarity Conference), announced this general strike plan on November 18.

The Solidarity Conference stated, “We have held a total of eight rounds of collective wage negotiations with the Ministry of Education and 17 provincial and metropolitan education offices, but the education authorities have dismissed the union’s demands. Education officials have forced workers into a general strike.” The group further emphasized, “The government and National Assembly must immediately respond to our urgent demands, including allocating a budget to eliminate discrimination, resolving the low-wage structure, preparing comprehensive measures for school meal services, legalizing educational public workers, and revising the School Meals Act.” They added, “If there is no progress after the general strike, we will escalate our struggle with an all-out protest in the new semester.”

The education authorities and the union failed to narrow their differences regarding wage increases. The Solidarity Conference demanded a regular bonus of 1.5 million won, among other requests, while the education authorities proposed an annual increase of 50,000 won for holiday bonuses, resulting in a standoff.

The National School Irregular Workers' Union (Hakbi Union) and the National School Irregular Workers' Solidarity Conference (Solidarity Conference) held a press conference to announce a general strike as they began an indefinite sit-in protest in front of the National Assembly on the 11th. Hakbi Union

The strike will be conducted regionally, with each region participating for one day. On the first day, November 20, workers from Seoul, Incheon, Gangwon, Sejong, and North Chungcheong will strike. On November 21, workers from Gwangju, South Jeolla, North Jeolla, and Jeju will participate. On December 4, workers from Gyeonggi, Daejeon, and South Chungcheong will strike, followed by workers from South Gyeongsang, North Gyeongsang, Daegu, Busan, and Ulsan on December 5.

School non-regular workers also held a one-day general strike on December 6 last year. According to the Ministry of Education and the provincial and metropolitan education offices, 26,292 workers, accounting for 15.0% of the total 175,369 educational public workers, participated in the strike at that time.

As a result, 30.7% of schools nationwide that provide meals were unable to serve regular meals, leading to the provision of bread and milk as substitutes or requiring students to bring their own lunches. After-school care programs were also disrupted.

The Ministry of Education and the provincial and metropolitan education offices plan to prepare school-specific meal service measures in anticipation of the upcoming strike.