Part-Time Public Officials Union Joins FKTU Seoul Regional Headquarters... Moves to Tackle Discrimination Through Solidarity

Discrimination in Promotion and Pay Despite Same Grade and Duties
Calls to Address Structural Constraints

The Nationwide Part-Time Public Officials Union (Chairperson Jung Sunghye, hereinafter Siseonje Union) announced on February 24 that it had officially joined the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Seoul Regional Government Employees' Federation.

Siseonje Nojo submitted an application to join the Seoul Regional Government Employees Union on the 24th. From the left: Kim Jinsik, Secretary-General; Park Sangcheol, Chairman of the Seoul Regional Government Employees Union; Jung Sunghye, Chairperson; Kim Jeongguk, Vice-Chairperson. Provided by Siseonje Nojo.

Upon submitting its application to join on the same day, Siseonje Union stated, "Through regional solidarity, we will correct the structural discrimination faced by part-time recruited public officials and push for improvements to ensure a fair personnel system in the public service."

The part-time recruitment system for public officials, introduced in 2014, has been consistently criticized for imposing structural discrimination in terms of promotion, pay, and working hours, despite these officials performing the same duties at the same grade. Unpaid overtime work, unreasonable recognition of work experience, and restrictions on expanding working hours according to different life stages are cited as representative problems.

Jung Sunghye, Chairperson of Siseonje Union, emphasized, "Part-time recruited public officials are regular career civil servants with tenure guaranteed, appointed through open competitive recruitment at the local government level and through career competitive recruitment at the national level, yet they have been subjected to discrimination in various aspects of personnel management," adding, "We must not let this issue remain at the level of demands by individual organizations, but instead expand it into a task of structural reform for the entire public sector."

Siseonje Union was launched in 2017 as the Part-Time Division within the National Integrated Public Officials Union and was converted into an independent nationwide union in December 2021. It joined the Government Employees' Union Federation of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions in January 2022, but this is its first time engaging in activities at the Seoul Regional Headquarters level.

Kim Kicheol, Chairperson of the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said, "The issue of structural discrimination against part-time recruited public officials is not a problem affecting only a small group; it is about restoring fairness and trust across the entire world of labor," and added, "At the level of the Seoul Regional Headquarters, we will actively engage in substantive solidarity activities to improve the system."

Park Sangchul, Chairperson of the Seoul Regional Government Employees' Federation, also stated, "We will recognize the issue of part-time recruited public officials as a common task for all public sector labor and will move forward with solidarity and joint actions to improve related policies."

Going forward, Siseonje Union plans to carry out concrete solidarity activities such as policy consultations and joint responses together with the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Seoul Regional Government Employees' Federation.