Jeonnam Education Officials Union Elects First Female Chairperson 'Park Hyun-sook'

In the 8th Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Employees' Union election, Hyun-sook Park was elected as Chairperson and Seong-hyun Kim as Secretary General. Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education Union provided

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Park Hyun-sook, the administrative officer, was elected as the 8th chairman of the Jeonnam Education Public Officials Labor Union, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

According to the Jeonnam Education Public Officials Labor Union on the 9th, in the ‘8th Jeonnam Office of Education Public Officials Labor Union Election’ held from the 4th to the 5th, out of 3,437 total voters, 3,111 (90.5%) participated in the vote. Park Hyun-sook (Yeongam Sinbuk Elementary School) as chairman and Kim Seong-hyun (Jeonnam Provincial Student Education Institute) as secretary-general were elected with 1,722 votes (57%).

The main pledges include ▲changing the upper-level organization ▲legalizing the administrative office ▲improving labor conditions ▲enhancing economic and social status ▲strengthening organizational power ▲securing basic political rights and improving the Labor Union Act.

Additionally, they proposed various pledges such as establishing a special committee to improve labor conditions for minority positions, resolving work conflicts with health teachers, securing long-term leave for general positions with less than 10 years of service, preferential promotion and transfer for heavy workload departments in regional education offices, and improving the grade 5 review promotion system.

The official launch of the 8th labor union is expected to raise voices within the general staff organization to restore self-esteem, coinciding with organizational restructuring that reduced administrative personnel and the recent search and seizure at the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education.

In particular, it is expected to develop into a strong labor union that actively reflects the demands of general staff for improved working environments, increased work efficiency, and workplace grievance handling.

Chairman Park Hyun-sook said, “During the election period, I visited over 400 institutions and directly heard the difficulties and grievances of on-site union comrades,” adding, “The despair of general public officials, who have been maliciously and intentionally excluded from Jeonnam education policies, has exceeded its limits, as evidenced by the labor union turnout rate exceeding 90%.”

She continued, “We will prioritize projects to restore the self-esteem of general public officials, calmly and strongly promote election pledges, and become a reliable labor union that serves as a strong support so that union members can work enthusiastically.”

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