By Lee Hyo-sik
Nearly 100,000 non-permanent employees in public workplaces will gain the status of “indefinite contract workers,” a position equivalent to that of permanent workers next year.
Of 341,000 non-permanent workers employed by state agencies and public companies, about 97,000 who have stayed on the same employers’ payroll for more than 2 years will gain these contract positions, the government and the governing Grand National Party said Monday.
The announcement was among measures introduced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the GNP aimed at improving working conditions for irregular permanent workers in the public sector.
The increasing number of such workers has emerged as a key social and political issue, and the planned status elevation is seen as a move aimed at wooing voters ahead of general and presidential elections next year.
On top of unstable job security, irregular workers in both the public and private sectors receive lower wages and benefits than those of regular workers.
If elevated to the status of indefinite contract employees, they will be entitled to higher wages and more perks than now.
Rep. Lee Joo-young, GNP’s chief policymaker, said, “We will hold more meetings with government officials through the year’s end to start work to turn irregular workers in the public sector into permanent ones from Jan. 1, 2012. We plan to complete the process by the end of next year.”
He said indefinite contact workers are “technically” regular employees due to their lifetime employment status. “We will introduce more steps in the future to help many non-regular workers gain permanent employment status.”
Under the law, employers are required to hire temporary workers who have been on the payroll for more than two years as permanent ones. The measure was meant to protect the growing number of non-regular workers, but led to worse job security for them as many companies opted to terminate contracts with those who were nearing the two-year limit instead of elevating them to regular status.
The GNP chief policymaker also said government agencies and public enterprises will be required to expand welfare benefits and bonuses to these workers. Currently, most non-permanent employees receive only base salaries and are not entitled to a range of benefits provided to permanent workers.
“We will give budget priority to those who extend welfare benefits to temporary workers. They will also be provided with private consulting services free of charge. Most of all, government bodies and public companies that maintain a temporary-worker friendly environment will receive higher scores in an annual performance evaluation,” Rep. Lee said.
The lawmaker said that the public sector should take the initiative in tackling difficulties facing non-regular workers. “If the public sector takes the lead in improving their working conditions, the private sector will follow suit.”
Non-permanent workers who have stayed on the job for more than one year will get 300,000 won in “welfare points,” which can be used as cash in many retail shops. The expanded welfare points and bonuses to non-permanent workers in the public sector are expected to reach an estimated 110 billion won each year. Each public organization will be responsible for its own expenditure.
It will also cost additional 159 billion won to turn non-regular substitute teachers and cooks in public schools, and parcel sorters at Korea Post into indefinite contract workers, Lee said.