Jeonbuk child-centre workers urge Governor Lee Won-taek to keep his promise on working conditions

“Why should we face discrimination in pay and working conditions simply because we work in Jeonbuk? Governor, please let us receive equal pay for equal work,” Lee Eun-ju, a worker at a child community centre, said at a news conference outside the Jeonbuk provincial government office on the 2nd.

Workers and the Jeonbuk branch of the National Care Service Workers’ Union urged Governor Lee Won-taek to turn policies he promised during his campaign into actual budgets and institutions. The union demanded implementation of five measures to improve conditions at child community centres and funding for those measures in the 2027 budget.

The union said it signed a policy agreement with Lee on May 17, when he was still a candidate. The agreement included recognising experience and seniority under social welfare facility pay guidelines, introducing paid sick leave and welfare points, guaranteeing promotion opportunities for social workers, institutionalising labour-government negotiations, and improving ageing facilities.

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Why should we face discrimination in pay and working conditions simply because we work in Jeonbuk? Governor, please let us receive equal pay for equal work.

But two months after Lee took office, the consultation body needed to implement the agreement had not been formed, the union said. It also criticised the lack of a specific budget amount or plan ahead of next year’s budget preparations. The union claimed Jeonbuk workers’ conditions remained among the worst in the country. It said improvements over the past two years amounted to only two seniority steps, while other local governments had removed limits on seniority scales or guaranteed more than 20 steps, along with allowances and welfare points.

The union cited an administrative transition report that included a Jeonbuk-style standard pay system for social welfare workers. It said Lee should immediately establish the consultation body and substantially increase next year’s budget. The union plans to campaign for the funding and will hold a workers’ rally outside the provincial government office on October 16.

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If Governor Lee Won-taek is willing to keep the promise he made to child community centre workers during his campaign, he should immediately establish a labour-government consultation body and substantially reflect working-condition improvements in next year’s budget.