○ On August 12, Gyeonggi Province declared its vision for a “fair world in which labor is respected” and presented the outcomes achieved in the year since the establishment of the Labor Bureau as well as its future direction.
○ Implementing strategies in five areas for a “fair world in which labor is respected”

Gyeonggi Province marked the first anniversary of the establishment of its Labor Bureau, the first body of its kind among local governments in Korea, through which the Gyeonggi provincial administration is honoring one of its major pledges to realize a “Gyeonggi in which labor is respected.”

The provincial government has been promoting various policies and projects, ranging from altering the term “근로” (geunlo; work), which implies working subordinated to employers, to “노동” (nodong; labor), which refers to proudly exercising labor rights as an independent entity under the banner of “support the weak and suppress the strong.” Related initiatives include: the establishment of the Labor Rights Center; addressing the mass layoff of Korean flight attendants from China Eastern Airlines; improving conditions for cleaners, guards and platform workers; and paying compensation for income losses arising from sick leave. Marking the occasion, Gyeonggi Province organized a conference to examine achievements to date and announce the future direction.

Gyeonggi Province Labor Bureau Director General Kim Kyu-sik held an online press conference at the northern office of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government on August 12 during which he presented the “Vision Declaration Ceremony for the Labor Policy of Gyeonggi Province” and outcomes realized in the year since the establishment of the Labor Bureau as well as its future direction.

“COVID-19 is bringing a qualitative and quantitative change to labor through factors such as the expansion of non-face-to-face services and platform labor, as well as increased instability in the livelihoods of vulnerable workers,” said Director General Kim. “Also, the lives of workers are repeatedly sacrificed in industrial accidents, such as the fires at logistics warehouses in Icheon and Yongin, while the local government is faced with a regrettable reality devoid of supervisory authority,” he added.

“The Gyeonggi Provincial administration seeks to increase labor rights and remove blind spots in labor rights, thereby transforming the labor environment, by establishing the Labor Bureau,” Director General Kim asserted. “We will continue to pursue structural innovations in our labor policies so as to find and implement various projects that will accelerate the creation of a world in which labor is respected.”

Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province will establish “a fair world in which labor is respected” as its labor policy vision for the remainder of the elected administration’s term, and pursue five major areas of promotion: decentralization of labor; creation of safe labor sites; realization of labor welfare without loopholes; expansion and strengthening of labor rights protection; revitalization of labor governance, and the promotion of various related policies and projects.

◆ The more we share, the greater the labor rights: “Labor decentralization”

First, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government will promote the sharing of labor supervising authority between the central and local governments so as to protect the labor rights of vulnerable people and minimize safety blind spots at labor sites. According to the provincial government, local governments are familiar with pending local issues and have the capacity to provide comprehensive administration; thus, the more they share roles and cooperate, the tighter related labor supervision will be. To this end, Gyeonggi Province will continue to promote the revision of the Labor Standards Act by communicating and cooperating with related agencies such as the National Assembly and the Ministry of Employment and Labor to lay the institutional foundation for sharing labor supervising authority.

In addition, the Gyeonggi Provincial Employment and Labor Office will be established. Although Gyeonggi Province is the largest second-tier autonomy in Korea, it lacks a separate and independent organization for labor administration. Such matters are currently handled by the Jugbu Regional Employment and Labor Office, which also oversees Incheon and Gangwon. The establishment of the Gyeonggi Provincial Employment and Labor Office would not only improve resident access to administrative services for employment and labor, but also create an efficient and systematic cooperative system between Gyeonggi Province and the Labor Administration that would enable the provision of employment and labor administrative services tailored to the regional characteristics and administrative needs of Gyeonggi Province.

◆ Preventing industrial accidents: “Creating safe labor sites”

In order to create safe labor sites, Gyeonggi Province will gradually expand the “Labor Safety Guardians,” an inspection team that works to prevent accidents and minimize safety blind spots at industrial sites. This team devises measures to strengthen institutional sanctions imposed on business establishments and employers involved in severe accidents; related efforts include the proposition of the “Act on the Punishment of Companies with Severe Accidents” and formulating standards to exclude such companies from certification as promising SMEs.

A continuous management system for industrial accidents prevention will also be established. This year, the provincial government organized the “Labor Safety Consultative Group,” consisting of experts from all walks of life, to provide policy consultations and present inspection and alternatives; the province also established the “Industrial Accident-related Department Consultative Group” to formulate more rapid and effective measures through “partition-less” administration among provincial departments.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province will focus on establishing a future-oriented industrial disaster prevention system through means such as providing VR digital education on the prevention of industrial accident and creating a construction site safety inspection system based on IT technology in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

◆ Improve quality of life for vulnerable workers: “Realizing labor welfare without loopholes”

The Gyeonggi provincial administration has formulated the “Comprehensive Plan for Protecting the Rights and Interests of Irregular Workers (2018-2022),” promoting a total of 23 tasks, including a reduction in non-regular workers in the public sector and an improvement in the employment environment in the private sector. As part of these efforts, 1,687 out of 1,950 non-regular workers (87 percent) in the public sector have been converted to regular workers, and all irregular workers will be similarly transitioned by the end of the second half of this year.

The government also seeks to stabilize the lives of workers and improve their quality of life by operating a “living wage system” that reflects housing and education costs. This year, the government calculated an associated hourly wage of KRW 10,364, which is 21 percent higher than the minimum wage of KRW 8,590, and is seeking to promote this system to the private sector by measures such as granting additional points to companies that intend to participate in public contracts.

For the first time in Korea, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government will also introduce a compensation allowance to stabilize the employment of irregular workers. Considering that shorter employment contract periods entail greater job insecurity, the allowance system enables the payment of differential compensation proportional to the term of employment; it will be reflected in the “2021 Detailed Guidelines on Budget Compilation” and come into effect next year after consultation with the provincial assembly.

The provincial government will also take the lead in improving resting conditions for vulnerable workers such as platform workers and field workers. By next year, 13 mobile rest areas for workers will be set up in key locations, and support will be provided to 10 universities this year to improve their break rooms for custodial and security field workers. Starting this year, the government will also strive to guarantee the right to rest by implementing a vacation bonus support project that will pay KRW 250,000 to non-regular and non-standard contract workers.

In addition, the government will introduce the “Labor Responsive Budget System of Gyeonggi Province” to analyze the scope, effects and achievements of labor policies and to formulate an objective analysis framework to be reflected from the time of budget compilation. To this end, related studies have been pursued from August this year.

◆ Expanding and strengthening labor rights protection to deal with the changing working environment

First, in order to flexibly deal with rapidly changing labor issues, the provincial government, the Gyeonggi Province Labor Rights Center in particular, is promoting various cooperative projects such as community-based labor attorneys and education on labor rights in association with city and county labor counseling centers and non-regular job support centers. Of particular note, the government is implementing a project to support psychotherapy for emotional labor and dismissed workers; this project will help related workers obtain counseling and treatment in line with the expansion of the service industry.

Starting this year, the government will promote its project to organize vulnerable workers so as to ensure that such workers can create independent organizations based on homogeneity by industry and region, and can develop such organizations to represent their interests. Accordingly, three related assemblies will be supported this year, and starting from next year, more than two organization-forming assemblies will be supported on an annual basis.

In addition, various activities are being pursued through labor rights supporters to ensure compliance with labor-related laws and regulations, including surveys and campaigns for small workplaces and short-term youth workers. Customized education on labor laws is also being implemented to strengthen the capacity of workers, employers, young adults, and adolescents in the labor market.

In addition, starting next year, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government plans to develop a digital labor law counseling platform that allows non-face-to-face consultations through smartphones in line with the trend of the digital “New Deal Policies” being enacted for the post-COVID-19 era.

◆ Strengthening collaboration to guarantee labor rights: “Establish labor governance”

The provincial government will also endeavor to strengthen labor policy cooperation among central, municipal, and local governments by such means as hosting municipal and local network meetings, revitalizing consultation meetings among worker, employers, civic groups and the government, and establishing labor governance so as to build mutually beneficial labor-management relationships. In addition, where city and county labor organizations seek to implement labor policies that reflect their regional characteristics, Gyeonggi Province will provide support through the its regional participatory labor cooperation project this year for 12 consortia.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Government plans to establish a labor-management cooperation partnership through outreach consultations via visits to vulnerable labor worksites and SMEs, and will implement a work-life balance program for workers, thereby actively responding to pending labor issues such as the mainstreaming of the 52-hour workweek and the work-and-family-life reconciliation. Furthermore, the government will closely examine pending issues in labor policies so as to devise policies tailored to the field through various programs such as panel discussions at the National Assembly, expert debates, and expert forums.

Labor Bureau Director General Kim Kyu-sik, said, “The Gyeonggi provincial administration values ‘노동’ (nodong; labor) that emphasizes the proactive nature of workers instead of ‘근로’ (geunlo; work), and seeks to ensure that workers are guaranteed a fair return for their labor.” He added, “We will continue to make every effort to realize a fair world in which labor is respected based on labor-management cooperation and field communication.”