Gwangju City Councilor Park Mijeong: "Working Conditions for Care Workers Must Be Improved"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] On the 20th, Gwangju Metropolitan Council member Park Mi-jung held a policy forum in the Budget and Accounts Committee meeting room to review the progress made since the enactment of the ordinance for "Protection of Rights and Improvement of Treatment for Long-term Care Institution Workers."

The forum was organized to seek effectiveness through follow-up inspections, with frontline workers and experts in attendance.

Councilor Park explained the background of the forum, stating, "There are cases where ordinances enacted to improve residents' quality of life, which is the responsibility of local council members, lose effectiveness due to insufficient follow-up activities and thus fail to be properly implemented, contrary to their original purpose."

Attendees, including Research Fellow Lim Jeong-mi from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and Professor Kwon Hyun-jung from the Department of Social Welfare at Busan Yeongsan University, exchanged opinions on benchmarking advanced best practices through comparative analysis of long-term care institutions by country and local governments, capacity-building measures to secure workers' expertise, improvement of working conditions, securing budgets for better treatment, and ways to enhance care services.

Councilor Park stated, "With the increase in the elderly population and the impact of COVID-19, demands for care have surged, raising the need for fundamental improvements in the treatment of care laborers who are working under poor labor conditions."

She added, "We will actively take the lead in strengthening care for the elderly who have not prepared for their later years and in improving the working environment and treatment of frontline care workers."

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