[2020 National Audit] Yoo Kyung-jun "Moon Administration's Regular Worker Conversion Only Causes Conflicts Among Employees"

Assemblyman Yoo Kyung-joon (file photo)

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] It has been pointed out that under the Moon Jae-in administration’s policy of converting non-regular workers to regular positions, most non-regular workers were converted not to general regular positions but to indefinite-term contract positions, which could become another source of conflict in the future.

According to the 'Status of Regular Employee Conversion in Public Institutions' data submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Yoo Kyung-joon, a member of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee from the People Power Party, on the 7th, only 13.8% of the converted regular employees in public institutions since the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration were general regular employees.

President Moon, in his first official move after taking office, visited Incheon Airport and declared the policy of converting non-regular workers to regular positions by stating, "We will open an era of zero non-regular workers in the public sector." Since then, public institutions have actively promoted the conversion of non-regular workers to regular positions in line with this government policy. Accordingly, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced in the 'Public Sector Phase 1 Institution Regular Employee Conversion Performance Data' released last January that 67% of the total non-regular workers in public institutions were converted to regular positions, and 104.6% of the planned number were decided for conversion.

Rep. Yoo said, "According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s announcement, the regular employee conversion policy seems to be progressing successfully, but looking closely at the reality, only 13.8% can be considered true general regular employees," adding, "The rest were converted through indefinite-term contracts (43.7%) and subsidiary company conversion (42.3%)."

He continued, "In the case of indefinite-term contract workers, unlike general regular employees, there are many cases where there is no promotion system, and they often do not receive various allowances such as job allowances," and pointed out, "The conflict between regular and non-regular workers is expected to become a spark for conflict between general regular employees and indefinite-term contract workers in the future."

Rep. Yoo viewed that this problem occurred because there were no specific standards and principles for the conversion of regular employees in public institutions. For example, Busan National University Hospital converted all 1,072 non-regular workers to general regular employees, whereas Seoul National University Hospital converted all 1,294 non-regular workers to indefinite-term contract positions.

Rep. Yoo said, "The side effects of this hastily made policy not only deprive young people of fair employment opportunities but also cause another problem by triggering conflicts between two different types of regular employees," adding, "The current government’s employment and labor policies are impulsive and spontaneous, leading to a public deception."

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