'Seoul City Audit Without Mayor Park Won-soon' Labor Union Also Joins Forces...

Seoul City Government Employees' Union Partners with Seoul City Executive to Successfully Conduct National Audit... Union Welcomes Cooperation to Prevent Further Inquiries on Ordinance Establishing Housing Stability Fund to Support Homeless Public Officials Struggling with Difficult Seoul Living Conditions Alongside Seoul City Administration Bureau

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] The Seoul Metropolitan Government Employees' Union (Seogongno) drew attention by joining hands with the executive branch and taking action ahead of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Seoul on the 15th, resulting in a smooth audit.

In particular, this audit attracted more attention than ever as it was conducted during the "vacancy of the Seoul Mayor" period.

Seogongno stated, "This year's audit was conducted under several special circumstances. Since the beginning of the year, city hall staff have been mobilized for various emergency duties such as screening clinics, residential treatment centers, and epidemiological investigation support for COVID-19 prevention, leading to extreme fatigue among city hall families. Especially since July, the prolonged mayoral vacancy has caused sustained extreme tension."

Accordingly, Seogongno prepared for the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee audit by voicing in unison the reality of an "audit hell" including the National Assembly audit, Seoul City Council audit, Board of Audit and Inspection audit, and internal audits from early morning in the lobby of the new city hall building's first floor.

The union expressed, "As this audit was the first since the 21st National Assembly convened, we expected a more advanced audit. However, the various data requests from lawmakers exceeded the usual level, with many cases demanding similar, overlapping, or excessively long-term data. There were also numerous instances where inaccurate or biased media reports led to excessive data requests."

They also noted that some negative media coverage regarding the residential stability fund, which Seogongno had continuously demanded to support homeless public officials struggling with the harsh life in Seoul and which was enacted as an ordinance, was directly reflected in the audit.

However, it was fortunate that most inquiries were excluded after Seogongno and the Seoul City Administration Bureau actively responded to several lawmakers' offices that requested related data.

Meanwhile, the Seogongno executive met with Seo Young-kyo, Chairperson of the Public Administration and Security Committee, and delivered documents containing the wishes of Seoul city officials to the committee.

On that day, the union requested measures to boost morale such as minimizing data requests during the audit, residential stability support, and guaranteeing basic political rights, as Seoul city officials, mobilized for COVID-19 emergency duties throughout the year, continue to fight while being exposed to infection risks.

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