How Hard Is It for the Employees at Gangnam-gu Office Dong Community Centers?

“Dong Community Center Is Not a Bottomless Pit for Gangnam-gu Office Work” Administrative Team Leader of a Dong Community Center Struggles with Work Transfer to Gangnam-gu Office... Im Seong-cheol, Head of the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Integrated Union, Posted on the Union Bulletin Board on the 26th, Saying, “I Apologize for Sharing Bitter News with Employees Struggling Due to Various COVID-19 Mobilizations,” Drawing Strong Reactions from District Office Staff

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] “Dong Community Service Centers are not endless sources of work for Gangnam District Office.”

This is the outcry of an administrative team leader at a Dong Community Service Center struggling with the transfer of tasks from Gangnam District Office.

On the 26th, Lim Seong-cheol, head of the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Integrated Labor Union, posted on the union bulletin board, saying, “I am sorry to bring bitter news to employees struggling with various COVID-19 mobilizations,” drawing strong reactions and attention.

Lim wrote, “Even without mentioning last year when COVID-19 began, the tasks handled by Dong Community Service Centers are so numerous that it’s hard to catch a breath. This year, there are the Seoul mayoral by-election, vaccination for seniors aged 75 and older (collecting consent forms, data entry, pre-vaccination notification calls a week in advance, on-site guidance on the day, and monitoring for three days), vaccination tasks for those aged 60 to 74, plus the addition of new tasks such as Subsidy24 and the housing lease reporting system.”

However, he criticized the administrative policy that, before approval of the guidelines, the transferring department is not consulted for opinions or at least for identifying problems and solutions, and that after approval, the transfer notice is simply sent out, ending the process.

He lamented that the Dong Community Service Center became noisy due to the designation of administrative and welfare team staff over the overlapping Subsidy24 tasks, and now the housing lease reporting task is also being transferred.

Housing lease contracts with a deposit exceeding 60 million KRW or monthly rent over 300,000 KRW must be mandatorily reported, and violations incur fines. While it is questionable whether deposits under 60 million KRW exist in Gangnam, all jeonse (long-term lease) tenants are subject to reporting, adding another routine task.

Lim stated, “There is more information to input than for the fixed date registration, and supporting documents must be scanned and attached, so processing time per case increases. Opening a separate counter is inevitable, and reinforcement of personnel must accompany this.” He pointed out that among the 2,000 Gangnam District Office employees, only 468 work at Dong Community Service Centers, less than one-third, and asked, “Why are you doing this to them? This is all due to incompetent managers of the 7th elected administration.”

He also criticized, “Having never rowed a boat in their lives and only played on the deck, they are now out in the vast sea of COVID-19 with no visible coordinates, causing confusion and restlessness. Since key department heads have no experience working at Dong Community Service Centers, do they only see the tax, civil affairs and passport, and automobile civil affairs departments at the district office?”

Along with this, he said, “The daily COVID-19 countermeasure meetings should be led by the health center director, who is a medical professional, but since the district chief presides, the meetings lack depth beyond daily confirmed case numbers and regional information. It feels like going to a hospital sick and getting a prescription from an office manager, not a doctor.”

Lim criticized, “It’s frustrating that these meetings are held daily even though they are not expanded executive meetings. If the health center has departmental cooperation tasks during the countermeasure meetings, why not issue separate instructions to resolve them? Department heads with over 30 years of experience probably thought the same but remained silent, perhaps because they had little time left on the job and didn’t want to be targeted or alienated. I hope they reflect on this.”

He also suggested, “If you want to get fresh ideas at the countermeasure meetings, have the 70 or so department heads each manage self-quarantine cases and conduct epidemiological investigations once. Their accumulated experience will bring out innovative ideas.”

He expressed confidence that various ideas would emerge, such as why masks?which employees so dislike?are necessary during self-quarantine; whether there are masks to prevent leaving designated locations; if mask colors can be differentiated; or if badges or mask straps can be provided to distinguish vaccinated seniors. He criticized the current disease control department head’s inadequate answers and said he does not expect to just watch empty words anymore.

Lim said, “Now, rather than focusing on epidemiological investigations, it is necessary to increase the number of screening clinics or operate temporary screening clinics at places with many confirmed cases such as health clubs, schools, and academies to prevent cluster infections. They say it’s a three-week intensive management period, but when you go to the health center, you can get free tests. Please don’t think about selling expensive diagnostic kits at construction sites or academies. How much money has been spent for Gangnam residents so far? Is it worth selling your conscience for a few hundred won profit to save on diagnostic kit costs? The department heads reporting this are pathetic, and the district chief who cannot stop it is quite something.”

He also said, “During the Seoul mayoral by-election last April, the district audit officer pressured daily spring cleaning patrol performance counts and publicly ranked Dong-by-Dong performance at executive meetings, so I roughly understand since they lived in another world. What did you do to the Dong Community Service Centers during the election period when you should have been focusing on election work? Fortunately, seeing the district chief order increased rewards for the hardworking departments, I understand it was not his intention. I ask for prevention of recurrence.”

Lim concluded, “After seeing employees come to work and make calls even last weekend, I thought there should be no more unreasonable task divisions between district and Dong offices and wanted to say a word. I ask the managers to become respected leaders to the innocent Dong Community Service Center employees who become unfilial children again as they make calls.”

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