Gangnam-gu Office Integrated Union Elects Kang Yong-woon as 4th Chairman

Election of the 4th Chairman of the Gangnam-gu Office Integrated Public Officials Labor Union

The Gangnam-gu Integrated Public Officials Labor Union elected Kang Yong-woon, Welfare Team Leader of Dogok 2-dong, as the 4th chairman of the Gangnam-gu Office Integrated Labor Union through an online vote held over two days on the 22nd and 23rd.

With this, the integrated labor union has entered the era of the 4th chairman Kang Yong-woon, following the inaugural branch chief and 2nd chairman Team Leader Lim Seong-cheol, and the 3rd chairman Team Leader Kwon Soon-pyo since 2018.

The chairman’s term is from May 29, this year, to May 28, 2025.

Established in May 2018, the Gangnam-gu Office Labor Union is known as a unique union that pursues labor union modernization through SNS and media coverage. On June 13, 2018, during the 7th local elections, it famously delivered open questionnaires to three Gangnam-gu mayoral candidates from the Democratic Party of Korea, Liberty Korea Party, and Bareunmirae Party, securing promises regarding employee welfare in advance.

In particular, the union has been applauded for resolving employee grievances through various welfare measures such as abolishing the mobilization of employees on national holidays for flag-raising, outsourcing implementation, reducing regular executive meetings, union participation in promotion review committees, establishing multi-faceted evaluations, notifying work performance results, recognizing overtime for fixed-term employees, improving performance bonuses, recognizing and increasing wages for part-time fixed-term employees at grade 9 step 1, revising special leave to 10 days, suspending executives involved in sexual harassment, promoting election allowance increases, and securing special leave.

Union activities are conducted with supporting members at grade 6 and above using ‘KakaoTalk’, while officials at grade 7 and below participate anonymously via ‘Band’ to protect union members and pursue equality among ranks.

Kang Yong-woon, 4th Chairman of the Gangnam-gu Office Integrated Labor Union

The newly elected chairman Kang Yong-woon first started his career in 1991 at Seoul City Hall, gaining extensive administrative experience through various departments including the Social Affairs Division, Elderly Welfare Division, Administration Division, and Seoul Museum of History. He is well-versed in Seoul city administration and currently serves as the Welfare Team Leader of Dogok 2-dong after transferring to Gangnam-gu in January 2021 due to health reasons.

With his long experience in Seoul City and his labor philosophy, he is considered the right person to lead the integrated labor union for the next two years. Although not widely known among union members due to his late transfer, he has served as the union secretary-general for the past two years, listening to members’ hardships and counseling on issues, demonstrating problem-solving skills. It is expected that he will significantly ease the burden on the executive branch, which has been implementing frustrating and bureaucratic employee welfare policies during the 8th local government term.

The three main pledges of the 4th chairman Kang Yong-woon are as follows.

First, he pledged to improve the wage step system for part-time fixed-term employees (grade M).

Despite the significantly heavy workload and high level of civil complaints compared to other districts, the fixed-term grade M 9th grade step 1 wage has remained unchanged since 2018. To break this vicious cycle caused by frequent transfers to Seoul City with higher salaries and the resulting double burden of filling employee work gaps, he plans to push for wage step increases.

Second, he will implement special long-term leave for public officials who have served more than five years.

More than half of the 25 autonomous districts and Seoul City have already implemented long-term leave systems with significantly increased leave days. He will investigate why Gangnam-gu has yet to adopt this system and minimize disadvantages for technical staff transferring between Seoul City and other districts during regular personnel exchanges if the introduction is delayed.

Third, he will attempt to raise the amount of birthday celebration gifts and holiday presents for employees.

Since gifts given to individuals on their birthdays and during holidays are part of employee welfare, he plans to increase the amounts so that employees can enjoy them with their families and feel gratitude toward their workplace. Based on a family of four, some districts provide up to 300,000 KRW, and Gangnam-gu will actively pursue similar measures.

The newly elected chairman Kang Yong-woon stated, “Employee welfare at Gangnam-gu Office, the best in the nation, must be maintained at the highest level to match the dignity and character of the employees.” He added, “Through this, we plan to enhance the development of the office, increase the sense of fulfillment and pride in work life, gather the dreams of residents, and promote the future of employees.”

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