Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Over 6,000 after-school childcare workers strike
An after-school childcare classroom at an elementary school in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, is empty with more than 6,000 childcare workers on strike, Friday. / Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
By Lee Hyo-jin
More than 6,000 after-school childcare workers at elementary schools held a one-day strike, Friday, in protest of the government plan to transfer management of childcare programs to local governments.
More than half of about 12,000 care providers nationwide took part in the walkout, according to the coalition of irregular school employees.
They demanded withdrawal of the so-called “all-day childcare bill,” drafted by the education authorities, aiming at integrating several care services provided by public schools and state-run facilities in a bid to raise the programs' accessibility.
The bill includes transferring care system supervision from schools to local governments, which the care workers insist will seriously hurt their working conditions.
Currently, each school supervises its own service and hires childcare workers. If management is transferred to regional governments, some are struggling with budget constraints and may delegate this to private companies.
Management by private companies would lead to worsened working conditions and insecure employment status, said the coalition.
The workers also called for an improved working environment, saying they have been suffering from overwork since the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Although we've been on the front line of childcare showing our responsibility amid the pandemic, we constantly had to work extra hours,” the coalition said during a press briefing on Thursday.
They also demanded stabilization of wage levels through ensuring a full-time employment basis of eight hours per day, adding that 84 percent of care providers were contract employees paid by the hours they worked.
Following concerns of a void in after-school childcare due to the strike, schools have taken various measures such as merging several care groups together, using volunteer school officials and asking parents to refrain from using the service for the day.
However, childcare disruptions may worsen because the care providers warned of bigger walkouts if the authorities fail to meet their demands.
The after-school childcare program, introduced in 2004, is used by more than 200,000 elementary students, 80 percent of whom are in first and second grades, according to Ministry of Education data.