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In an elementary school in Seoul, students at lunchtime receive meals. Yunhap news
School meal cooks and caring staff in Seoul are on strike from 19-20, demanding improvements in the retirement pension system. The Seoul Metropolitan Bureau of Education sent a letter to front-line schools stating that they should refrain from striking or hiring substitutes based on the Trade Union Law. Confusion between students and parents is expected to increase as the giving up of school meals and classroom care is inevitable.
The Seoul School Non-Regular Workers Association (Seoul Scholarship Association) announced on the 18th that it had decided to go on strike for two days from the 19th to the 20th as scheduled, saying that it had not reached an agreement on the pension of retirement with the Seoul Bureau of Education. The Seoul Scholarship Coalition has around 11,000 people, including specialists, caterers, and nutritionists who work in Seoul schools.
They have demanded to convert the CD type retirement pension (defined contribution type) to which most of their affiliates are subscribed to the relatively stable DB type (defined benefit type). As a compromise, the Office of Education proposed a plan to mix 50% of the DB type and the DC type, but the deal fell through.
Primary school first grade students are receiving meals at Sujeong Primary School in Dong-gu, Busan. Yunhap news
When the strike was confirmed, the Seoul Metropolitan Bureau of Education sent an official letter to the frontline schools on the afternoon of the 17th to guide the response. According to the official letter, schools cannot hire or replace outside personnel to perform tasks that have been interrupted due to a strike, and they must not post broadcasts or announcements on campus or send correspondence home to avoid participation in strikes. This is a guideline that must not interfere with industrial activities in accordance with the Labor and Union Relations Adjustment Act.
Instead, the Office of Education ordered to use staff members, such as participants and teachers who weren’t on strike, to bridge the gap in the lunch and care class work. When meals could be operated, simple meals were used to simplify meals, and schools with a high proportion of strikers had to have students prepare lunch boxes or provide meal replacements such as bread and milk.
In July of last year, when non-regular workers like a food service center went on a general strike, a high school student was eating hamburgers and fruit drinks for lunch. Yunhap news
The parents complained. Parents of primary school students living in Mapo-gu said: “Even in the summer of last year, due to the food strike, the child ate with bread and milk” and “after all, only the students are suffering. “. Another parent also said, “A while ago, the care class was closed, and this time it was lunch,” and said, “Isn’t the government should propose a countermeasure instead of supporting the strike?”
On the 16th, a petition criticizing the catering and care services strike was posted on the Seoul Metropolitan Bureau of Education civil petition bulletin board, and 2,500 people agreed within two days. An official from the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, a teachers’ organization, said: “Because the right to strike is strong, the consequences of hampering students’ health and learning are repeated.” “We need to improve union legislation so that we can do it.”
Reporter Kim Kyung-mi [email protected]
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