School cleaning workers "Agree on equal regular bonus payments"

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyeong-woo = The National Education and Public Service Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Public Transport Workers' Union held a strike rally for school cleaning workers in front of the Chungcheongbuk-do Office of Education on the 11th and urged, "We must agree to the same payment of regular bonuses in this year's collective wage negotiations."

About 400 people (police estimate), including school cleaning workers from all over the country, participated in the rally that day.

At this event, Jeong In-yong, head of the National Education Public Service Headquarters, raised his voice, saying, "I expected to be treated properly when it was converted to direct employment by the Office of Education in 2018, but discrimination was left in place under the name of a special operation group."

The union claims that they only receive a regular bonus of 500,000 won, which is half the amount of regular educational civil servants, and do not receive any service allowance at all.

Cho Hye-jin, head of the union's national environment division, said, "Schools are places that teach children equality and respect," and added, "Workers working in those schools should be treated equally."

After the rally, they delivered a letter of protest to the Chungbuk Provincial Office of Education. A general strike of educational civil servants is scheduled in front of the National Assembly on the 27th.

Meanwhile, the reason they held a rally in front of the Chungbuk Office of Education is because Chungbuk Superintendent Yoon Geon-yeong is the company's representative in this year's collective wage negotiations.

Wage negotiations for educational civil servants are conducted through collective bargaining between the Ministry of Education and 16 city/provincial offices of education across the country together with the labor union, and city/provincial offices of education take turns as representatives each year.