Gwangju Education Superintendent Candidate Lee Jeong-seon "Introducing Nationwide First Labor Education"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Lee Jeong-seon, a preliminary candidate for Gwangju Superintendent of Education, declared on May 1st, Labor Day, that “to respect the value of labor and prevent labor rights violations of students in specialized high schools, we will be the first in the nation to fully implement labor rights-friendly labor education.”

In a special message on the 132nd Labor Day, the candidate pointed out, “Currently, our education system only offers a subject called ‘Labor Rights and Industrial Safety and Health’ in vocational high schools, and actual labor education is conducted for only one or two hours in schools.”

The candidate emphasized, “Most students gain labor experience through part-time jobs, but their labor rights are at risk due to issues such as the absence of written labor contracts, concealment of industrial accidents, assignment of dangerous tasks, and payment below minimum wage. Especially, fundamental measures will be prepared to prevent repeated labor rights violations and fatal incidents involving specialized high school students who enter the labor field even before taking off their school uniforms.”

To fully implement labor education, the candidate plans to promote ▲ labor rights campaigns and monitoring in cooperation with the Gwangju Youth Labor Rights Center ▲ establishment of a youth labor rights counseling system through employment support centers and education office labor attorneys ▲ strengthening rights protection and expanding allowance support for field trainees ▲ abolishing school evaluations focused on employment rates ▲ supporting preparation for specialized high school skill competitions and expanding the school employment support officer system.

Additionally, to enhance the substance of labor education in schools, the candidate decided to recruit representatives from the two major labor organizations, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, local labor unions in Gwangju, and labor-related institutions to establish a practical labor education system.

Recruited personnel for Gwangju labor education include Park Joo-hyun, Chair of the Public Federation of the Gwangju Regional Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions; Kim Jeong-sook, Head of the Gwangju Branch of the Public Service Federation of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; Moon Hong-geun, Taxi Committee Chair of the Gwangju Regional Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions; and Ahn Yoon-taek, Head of the Democratic Taxi Gwangju Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

Representatives of local labor unions in Gwangju include Jeon Gwang-moon, Chairman of the Gwangju Shinhung Taxi Union of the National Taxi Labor Union Federation; the Head of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Headquarters of the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions; and Han Jae-gyu, Chair of the Gwangju Branch of the Nonghyup Union of the Financial Industry Union of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions.

Labor-related institutions participating include Wi In-baek, Chairman of the Korea Human Rights Education Institute, and Kim Young-gon, former Vice Chairman of the Gwangju Workers’ Council.

The candidate said, “The most important element of labor education is to cultivate ‘labor sensitivity,’” adding, “We will realize labor education that respects the value of labor through setting labor education goals for each elementary, middle, and high school and fostering labor rights sensitivity among faculty and staff.”

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