[Comments] Pledges made by Park Keun-hye is like jam which sticks and blurs together as time passes?: Women workers' issues amongst her government's tasks

[Comments] Pledges made by Park Keun-hye is like jam which sticks and blurs together as time passes?: Women workers' issues amongst her government's tasks

 

Park Keun-hye government's tasks suggested by the 18th Presidential Transition Team were announced, last February 21. The 140 national tasks will be served as compasses for government's national tasks for 5 years. However, amongst the national tasks, ones regarding women workers has been deteriorating or not become detailed, compared to the pledges made by Park Keun-hye as a presidential candidate. Actually, her pledges were not enough to open a new world in which women workers become happy. She should have listened to and reflected workers' opinions and views, but her national tasks have been getting worse. Even her inauguration ceremony, she changed the contents of her pledges, which makes Korean people worry about the next 5 years.

 

The biggest women workers' issue is that 60% of women work as irregular workers. Since irregular workers' issues are very important in terms of social unity, realization of a welfare nation, and economic democracy as well as social bi-polarization, the solutions of the issues should be far more concrete, comprehensive and feasible. In particular, irregular women workers' policies are not automatically solved even though the number of irregular workers are decreased. Additional labor policies are needed in relation to gender equality including equality of opportunities, equality of process, equality of result, and insurance of maternity protection. Park Keun-hye promised irregular workers whose work is regular and continual would be converted to regular workers until 2015, from the public sector. However, in her national task the detailed duration was missing. Currently, Park mentioned 46,000 irregular workers in the public sector would be regularized, but the number of women irregular workers in the public sectors is 200,000 persons. According to the announcement by Park Won-soon, the Mayor of Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan government reduced 5.3 billion Won after it changed irregular workers to regular ones. This shows the converting of irregular workers to regular ones is not the issue of budget but the issue of the will of policy realization.

 

Specially hired workers' issues cannot be basically solved from the perspectives of employment insurance and/or industrial insurance. The essence of 88CC caddies and Jaeneung Agency private tutors' issues, who have been fighting for 5 years, is concerning the realization of their rights to work. The new government should take a lead in solving the issues of 88CC candies and Jaeneung Agency private tutors, as representative long-term struggles, but Park Keun-hye haven't said any word about the issues.

 

In addition, household workers are in the same situation. The Labor Actor which does not recognize the labor right of household workers was stipulated 59 years ago, which is inappropriate to the changed modern labor atmosphere. Although the ILO Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers should be ratified and the Labor Act should be reformed promptly, the labor tasks only includes 'Regulation of guideline for protecting working conditions of domestic workers, and supports for regulatory improvement.'

 

The fundamental solution of the issues of specially hired workers and household workers is that relevant laws should be reformed for recognizing their rights to work. However, Park made a pledge to 100% support social insurance fees for irregular workers, but it was reduced to 1/2 stealthily. So, her pledges are likely empty, and we are getting frustrated.

 

Park Keun-hye isn't highly willing to address the issues regarding balancing women's jobs and family matters. In order to implement the policies related to balancing women's jobs and family matters, essential is free uses of maternity leave and parental leave, safe and reliable childcare centers and males' participation in child care. However, the national tasks only include the introduction of 'daddy's month' whose periods and income replacement rates are undetailed, the increase in national and public childcare centers whose size are not detailed, and the conversion of pregnant women workers to part-timers. Part-time jobs in Korea has the lowest status amongst all types of jobs in Korea because it has the lowest social insurance application rate. Decent part time jobs doesn't make sense. Although women account for 73% of part-time workers and their working condition should be improved through conducting field research on them, Park Keun-hye sticks to the expansion policy without taking any countermeasures. As Park Keun-hye mentioned in her pledges, she should make social atmospheres in which women workers easily and freely use maternity leave and parental leave, and males should take 100% paid infant-care paternity leave system for a month, and national and/ or public childcare centers should be increased by 30%. Park Keun-hye should abolish the parttime job expansion policy right away and take measures for the protection of the present part-time workers.

 

The national task for cultivating 100,000 future women talents is hollow. Her pledge didn't show exact numbers, but it shows her will to expand women's participation through suggesting methods by area. However, the national task shows only one phrase, 'the expansion of women's participation.' Is that really all in the Korean society? It is needed to newly implement 30% affirmative action for cultivating women managers in the public sector, to reflect the system to evaluation indexes, and to introduce the employment quota system based on precise statistics of women committees, women professors and women principals. The affirmative action should be led in the public sector.

 

Furthermore, affirmative employment improvement action is also deteriorating, compared to her pledge. Women's glass ceiling shows inequality and backwardness in our society. It is impossible to enhance women's social participation and women's status without any her proactive wills. In this light, it is more adequate that the enhancement of women's participation and status should be led in the public sector.

Park Keun-hye promised to work "like a hard-working mom to encourage all of her children not to starve." We are questioning if women workers are included in her children? and who her children are.

 

February 22, 2013

Women's Labor Politic Action, Korean Women Workers' Association & Korean Women Trade Union