Seongdong-gu, Nationwide First 'COVID-19 Hidden Heroes' and 'Essential Workers' Support Ordinance Promulgated

Jeong Wono, Seongdong District Mayor, Advocates Respect for Essential Workers to Maintain Social Functions... Seongdong-type Essential Worker Definition, Survey, and Review to Determine Support Targets and Financial Assistance

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “COVID-19 is scary... but what can I do if I don’t come? The elderly who can’t do anything alone would be left helpless. And I’m struggling to make a living too.”

Care worker Jisangok (62, with 12 years of experience).

Despite the trend of ‘non-face-to-face’ and ‘social distancing’ due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), she visits homes where elderly people with mobility difficulties live for three hours a day, sweating under a suffocating mask while providing meal assistance, bathing, and diaper care. The risk of infection she is routinely exposed to and the low wages that have barely changed in 12 years are her reality.

Workers like Ms. Ji, who risk various dangers even in disaster situations to ensure public safety and maintain basic living, as well as workers engaged in vulnerable group care and childcare, medical support personnel, delivery workers, and those in logistics and transportation, are called ‘essential workers.’

Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Wono) announced on the 10th the first-ever ordinance in the nation to reexamine, protect, and support essential workers (hereinafter referred to as the Essential Workers Ordinance).

This ordinance legally establishes the concept of Seongdong-type essential workers and lays the foundation for actively leading protection and support by establishing support plans.

In advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, essential workers are called ‘Essential Workers’ or ‘Key Workers’ and have been supported early on. Similarly, in Korean society, the importance and social value of essential workers, the unsung heroes of K-quarantine, need to be properly recognized.

Jung Wono, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “Essential workers who maintain the functions of our society need to receive appropriate respect and consideration, and the ordinance enactment is the starting point for policy promotion. We must remember that even during the first half of this year when strict social distancing was implemented, many essential workers continued to perform necessary and arduous labor to maintain social functions despite being exposed to the risk of COVID-19 infection.”

Accordingly, the district is raising awareness of the role and importance of essential workers and preparing policy forums with various institutions including metropolitan and central governments to spread social issues.

Mayor Jung Wono is personally taking the lead in these forums. On the 11th, he participated in the 10th anniversary international forum of the Mokmin-gwan Club and gave a discussion presentation on essential workers. On the 16th, he will deliver a keynote speech on the necessity of essential worker support systems at the online policy talk concert titled ‘Labor and Social Economy in the COVID-19 Era,’ hosted by the National Social Solidarity Economy Local Government Council, where he serves as chairman.

Mayor Jung said, “I feel a heavy responsibility as we implement the nation’s first ordinance supporting essential workers. Although the concept of essential workers may still feel unfamiliar in Korean society, I am confident that as social discussions become active and social consensus on their value progresses, a culture of respecting essential workers will spread, and our society will be able to overcome disasters more wisely.”

Starting with the enactment and announcement of the ordinance, the district plans to form an essential worker support committee including internal and external experts, conduct professional surveys to define specific support targets according to disasters, and prepare measures to improve working conditions and provide economic support.

Mayor Jung Wono added, “However, for economic support, there are prerequisites such as reaching social consensus, legislative improvements through the National Assembly, and financial support from the central government and metropolitan local governments. We plan to make multifaceted efforts at the district level to establish the institutional foundation and financial conditions necessary for this.”

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