Seongdong-gu Establishes Nation's First Dedicated Organization for 'Working Citizens'

Seongdong-gu Implements Organizational Restructuring Effective January 1, 2024, Establishes 'Working Citizens' Team
Seongdong-gu, First Nationwide to Enact 'Essential Workers Ordinance,' Leads in Protecting Workers' Rights
Mayor Jung Won-oh: "We Will Foster a Culture That Respects Workers More in Our Society"

Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeong Won-oh), which was the first in the nation to define the concept of essential workers and establish an institutional framework for their protection and support, has carried out an organizational restructuring in 2024 to form a dedicated team for supporting essential workers, the first of its kind nationwide.

As of January 1, 2024, Seongdong-gu has newly established the "Working Citizens Team" within the Employment Policy Division to accelerate support for essential workers and to promote projects for workers in various forms of employment.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis, Seongdong-gu named workers who risked infection to perform face-to-face duties to maintain the normal functioning of society as "essential workers," and through the first-ever "Ordinance on the Protection and Support of Essential Workers" enacted nationwide, it has implemented various support and protection policies for essential workers.

This effort gained significant social consensus, and within about a year of its enactment, Seongdong-gu's essential workers ordinance was successfully legislated into law.

Not stopping there, in 2023, Seongdong-gu conducted the nation's first wage survey and in-depth interviews targeting essential workers within the district. Based on this, in November of the same year, it announced a "Three-Year Roadmap for Essential Worker Support Policies" aimed at improving the quality of life of residents through better treatment and working conditions for essential workers.

The three-year roadmap includes measures such as ▲ support for low-income essential worker occupations and social safety net support ▲ preparation of wage guidelines to create conditions for "equal pay for equal work" by occupation, and is scheduled for phased implementation starting this year.

Among these efforts, the establishment of the dedicated "Working Citizens" team through the organizational restructuring on January 1 this year is expected to give new momentum to the ongoing essential worker support and protection policies in Seongdong-gu.

Going forward, Seongdong-gu’s "Working Citizens" team plans to actively promote rights enhancement projects for "working citizens" in the district, including ▲ operation of the Seongdong Workers’ Welfare Center ▲ operation of rest shelters for Seongdong essential and platform workers ▲ management of labor unions and protection of emotional labor workers. It also aims to respond flexibly and proactively to the increasingly diverse forms of labor such as platform workers, special employment workers, freelancers, and one-person entrepreneurs.

Mayor Jeong Won-oh of Seongdong-gu stated, “This organizational restructuring emphasizes comprehensive inclusion and support for ‘working citizens,’ including essential workers who quietly fulfill their roles in our society. Seongdong-gu will continue to implement practical and concrete policies so that our essential workers can work with pride in their respective positions.”

Mayor Jeong also added, “We will do our best to create a culture where various forms of workers, including essential workers who are diligently working today, are more respected.”

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