Non-regular School Workers Launch Strike after Wage Negotiations Fall Through | Be Korea-savvy

Non-regular School Workers Launch Strike after Wage Negotiations Fall Through


Students are given bread, milk and egg for lunch in the southeastern city of Daegu, as non-regular school workers launched a strike demanding better pay on Nov. 21, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

Students are given bread, milk and egg for lunch in the southeastern city of Daegu, as non-regular school workers launched a strike demanding better pay on Nov. 21, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire)Non-regular school workers launched a general strike Friday after wage negotiations with the education authorities fell through.

Around 60,000 workers mostly involved in providing meals and child care were expected to take part in the nationwide strike, according to their unions, prompting some schools to replace Friday’s lunch meal with bread and milk and substitute teachers of before- and after-school child care programs with volunteers.

The unions had held multiple rounds of negotiations with the education ministry and local education offices since July to demand better pay and working conditions but failed to reach an agreement.

The education ministry put the number of striking workers lower, saying it expected it to be similar to the number that participated in the previous strike in March last year.

The ministry estimated that 23,516 people, equivalent to 13.9 percent of the total, joined the walkout last time, causing disruptions in 3,293 schools nationwide.

In Seoul alone, 1,610 people took part in the walkout Friday, equivalent to 6.66 percent of the 24,174 non-regular school workers in the city and up 24 percent from the figure last year, according to the city’s education office.

The strike caused disruptions in meal distributions at 220 schools in the city, with 200 of them handing out bread and milk as replacement.

Two out of 293 kindergartens providing after-school care could not operate normally, but all child care programs at elementary and special-education schools were running as usual, according to the city office.

The unions have scheduled rallies in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the presidential office in Yongsan, among other places.

Education authorities plan to operate situation rooms at local education offices to deal with emergencies and draw up countermeasures for each school.

(Yonhap)

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