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Civil servants' demand for fixed lunch break raises controversy
Members of the South Gyeongsang Province branch of the Korean Government Employees' Union hold a press conference in front of the provincial office, Nov. 9, calling for instituting a 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. lunch break. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
Controversy is rising over an increasing demand from civil servants across the country to guarantee them a lunch break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. as offered to other workers.
They are demanding all services at public offices, including the issuance of official documents, be suspended during the one-hour lunchtime to guarantee their “rights,” but critics say this will cause inconvenience, especially to workers who have to utilize their own lunchtime to visit public offices.
The Korean Government Employees' Union (KGEU) has recently intensified calls for the guaranteed lunch break to safeguard their health and welfare rights, citing the Labor Standards Act and service regulations for civil servants that stipulate their lunchtime is from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The law and regulations, however, also stipulate that heads of local governments can decide to advance or put off the lunchtime by one hour, considering the characteristics of the duties of civil servants.
Consequently, most civil servants working at public services centers usually rotate their lunchtimes from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. or from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., so services at such centers can continue during the “original” lunch hour.
The Goseong County office in South Gyeongsang Province began to observe the 12 p.m.-1 p.m. lunch break in February 2017. Since then, the policy has expanded to Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi Province, Damyang and Muan in South Jeolla Province and Jecheon and Boeun in North Chungcheong Province.
The Muan County office in South Jeolla Province where all civil servants began to take their lunch break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. beginning July 1, 2019.
After five district offices in Gwangju adopted the policy in July this year for the first time in a metropolitan city, union members at local governments in Busan and South Gyeongsang Province intensified their calls for the adoption of the practice.
“The central and local governments have taken away our rights to eat and rest in the name of providing convenience to the public,” an official from the Busan branch of the KGEU said during a press conference in front of Busan City Hall, Nov. 5. “They have exploited us without our consent.”
The South Gyeongsang Province branch of the KGEU also held a press conference in front of the provincial office, Nov. 9, making a similar demand.
The union members are calling for the complete suspension of services at public offices from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., claiming that most of the services can be offered online or through unmanned certificate issuers installed at such offices.
But objectors say several important services such as passport issuance and applications for national basic livelihood assistance cannot be done online or through unmanned issuers, meaning that those who need those services are forced to wait until the lunch break is over.
“If civil servants have their lunchtime from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., all other workers will have to take a day off to receive civil services,” an employee working at one of the country's conglomerates wrote on the Blind app, a communication platform for workers. “Those who are unfamiliar with online services or unmanned issuers such as the elderly or the disabled will experience huge inconvenience too.”
On the other hand, supporters of the lunchtime policy raised the need to change people's perception of civil servants and recognize their rights guaranteed by law.
“Civil servants are also humans. I think the right to eat and rest are their basic human rights, which need to be guaranteed,” an internet user wrote on Naver's news section.