What Has Changed in the 2nd Year of the 7th Elected Term at Gangnam District Office?

On the 29th, marking the 2nd anniversary of the founding of the Integrated Union Gangnam Branch led by Im Seong-cheol, a post highlighted achievements and future challenges; Mayor Jeong Soon-gyun praised changes in personnel practices through multi-faceted evaluations since his inauguration but called for improvements in unclear promotion and transfer criteria.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Until June 2017, two and a half years ago, it was impossible to even mention the word "labor union" in Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeong Soon-gyun), but since the establishment of a union there, small changes have been emerging within the organization.

With the inauguration of Jeong Soon-gyun, the first Democratic Party-affiliated mayor since the implementation of local autonomy, signs of change in personnel and other areas have been attracting attention.

In particular, the Integrated Public Officials Labor Union Gangnam-gu branch (Chairman Lim Seong-cheol), which advocates itself as a policy union, marked its 2nd anniversary on May 29, 2018, having taken root in the labor union desert of Gangnam-gu Office.

On this day, Chairman Lim analyzed the organizational changes within Gangnam-gu Office over the past two years through a post titled, "What kind of mindset are you working with now?"

First, the National Integrated Public Officials Labor Union (abbreviated as Integrated Union) was established on June 16, 2015, as a member-centered policy union and a competent union, mainly negotiating with the Ministry of Personnel Management to implement labor policies.

At the time of joining the Gangnam-gu Office union in 2018, the atmosphere was that the existing workplace council had collapsed due to low participation and indifference from employees. Although a union was re-established at Gangnam-gu Office, it was thought that it did not deviate much from the existing framework, leading to the need for a union that matched their tendencies. Gathering opinions from employees who sympathized with this, the establishment of a union within Gangnam-gu Office was pursued.

They also believed that the existing union's methods could not respond to changes in the times and could not reopen employees' hearts. With the mindset that the union should be reborn as a unique and distinctive union exclusive to Gangnam-gu Office, they gathered employees who shared the will to improve and develop the closed organizational culture rather than pursuing personal interests and advancement.

Over the past two years, the Integrated Union has aimed to differentiate itself from existing labor unions by focusing on improving employee working conditions and welfare. Ahead of the June 13, 2018 local elections, they sent public questionnaires to three leading candidates for Gangnam-gu mayor to receive pledges on employees' top concerns in advance.

The three key points were: ▲ Transparent and fair personnel system disclosure ▲ Suspension of artificial Taegukgi flag-raising promotional activities that mobilize employees on national holidays ▲ Simplification of overlapping meetings such as executive meetings, director meetings, policy report meetings, and countermeasure meetings.

At that time, candidate Jeong Soon-gyun (current Gangnam-gu mayor) responded, "We will conduct multi-faceted evaluations for transparent and fair personnel, not require public officials to come to work on national holidays and public holidays for Taegukgi flag-raising promotions, and will not hold meetings outside working hours unless in emergencies." After his election, these promises were kept, the union reported.

After Mayor Jeong's inauguration, even the results of work evaluations, which were not disclosed to him, were made public, and the method of distributing employee performance bonuses was adjusted to include promotions and disciplinary actions, ensuring benefits were evenly distributed to all.

Multi-faceted evaluations were actively reflected in promotion personnel decisions, and employees in the bottom 5% were automatically excluded from promotion candidates.

Wages and payment methods for Gangnam-gu's time-selective fixed-term employees, who work steadfastly under relatively poor working conditions compared to other districts, were also improved.

Additionally, employee welfare benefits were significantly upgraded, including the introduction of official employee liability insurance, flu vaccinations, cultural experience support, age-specific health checkup expenses, autonomous resorts, global training expenses, half-day off in every corner, and living stabilization funds.

Starting next month, the National Holiday flag-raising work, which was previously the responsibility of each resident center's staff under the Resident Autonomy Division, will be outsourced, promoting employee safety, rest rights, and job creation.

Despite the late start compared to other cities and districts, the union has now reached the top tier in terms of welfare levels nationwide.

In particular, personnel matters are also moving toward a normal track, which is encouraging. Chairman Lim said, "The most difficult and challenging part of union activities has been personnel matters because if handled poorly, it can be perceived as interference in personnel authority and cause conflicts." He added, "However, since one manager can control the fate of dozens of employees and completely change the working environment, it is not an exaggeration to say that the union's continuous involvement is its raison d'?tre."

Im Seong-cheol, Branch Manager

However, despite these achievements, he expressed hope that the work evaluation system for 6th-grade seniority promotions would also be changed in the future.

Since the seniority promotion target is 7th grade with more than 11 years of service, they should be managed separately, and a personnel system should be established that allows promotion with only an 'Excellent' work performance rating to enable smooth department operations. It is true that confusion in evaluation standards arose due to differences between senior and junior employees over the lost 10 years at Gangnam-gu Office and among transferred staff. This inevitably involved department heads' recognition of the work life shared so far and was also a source of disputes among employees.

He also pointed out painfully that disputes over evaluations between seniors and juniors across departments and the concentration of manpower in key departments led to a strange promotion structure where non-promotion candidates were enticed with evaluations as bait.

He hoped that many incorrect personnel practices would be overhauled and that promotion personnel and transfer standards suitable for Gangnam-gu Office would be established.

“Personnel is everything, and personnel is the organization.” If someone is dissatisfied with promotions and transfers, he concluded by saying he hopes the personnel system will be reformed to be fair and equitable so that the organizational culture of Gangnam-gu Office can be improved, creating a workplace atmosphere and working environment where employees can work comfortably without simply ignoring complaints.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.