Welcoming the Proposal to Amend the Public Officials Act Granting Time Consultation Rights

The National Part-Time Civil Servants Labor Union (Chairperson Jeong Seong-hye) held a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on the 1st in front of the National Assembly main gate, together with about 20 part-time civil servants from across the country, to welcome the proposal of the amendment to the Civil Servants Act to establish a provision for the right to negotiate working hours.

Jeong Seong-hye, Chairperson of the Part-Time Civil Servants Labor Union, stated, "The current 'part-time civil servants' system is ironically named, as the appointing authority can change working hours at any time according to the 'Civil Servants Appointment Decree,' turning it into a 'forced working hours job.' On March 11, 2019, we submitted a petition requesting the amendment of the 'Civil Servants Appointment Decree' and the 'Local Civil Servants Appointment Decree' to allow part-time civil servants and appointing authorities to negotiate working hours."

Kim Hwang-woo, Secretary General of the union, said, "In the field, there are increasing cases of abuse, such as the appointing authority reducing working hours from 35 hours to 20 hours the day before parental leave. On March 27, we sent an official letter to the Ministry of Personnel Management requesting the establishment of a provision for the right to negotiate working hours under the National Civil Servants Act."

However, the response from the Ministry of Personnel Management was that "civil servants have a special responsibility as servants to the entire nation, and to prevent inconvenience to the public caused by vacancies and to provide efficient administrative services, matters related to civil servant personnel such as promotion and transfer are decided by the appointing authority considering the overall work conditions of the institution," which they reported back.

In response, the Part-Time Civil Servants Labor Union collaborated with National Assembly member Lee Hae-sik (Gangdong-gu Eul), a member of the Administrative Safety Committee, and on April 27, jointly proposed a partial amendment bill to establish a provision for the right to negotiate working hours in the National Civil Servants Act and the Local Civil Servants Act.

At the press conference, Chairperson Jeong Seong-hye and Secretary General Kim Hwang-woo, who attended the event, actively welcomed the proposal to establish the provision for the right to negotiate working hours and pledged to cooperate fully to ensure the bill passes the plenary session of the 21st National Assembly.

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