2,500 Members of 7 Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service Unions Rally Outside National Assembly: "End Wage Gaps, Expand Budgets"

Seven labor unions affiliated with the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service have launched a joint struggle, calling for an end to unreasonable wage disparities and increased staffing and budgets at the workplace. They also announced plans for a joint strike and a nationwide mass rally on November 26, with around 6,000 union members expected to participate.

The Joint Struggle Headquarters of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service labor union held a rally for an all-out struggle outside the National Assembly on November 12, with around 2,500 union members in attendance. It urged the government and the National Assembly to normalize wages and allocate budget funding to strengthen public employment and industrial accident services.

The Joint Struggle Headquarters consists of seven labor unions within the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, representing around 9,000 members. The unions said they provide major public services, including the administration of employment and industrial accident insurance, treatment and rehabilitation for workers injured in industrial accidents, and labor welfare, but face wage disparities compared with other social insurance agencies as well as a structural problem of low pay.

The Joint Struggle Headquarters of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service Labor Union held a rally on the 12th to pledge an all-out struggle in front of the National Assembly, with around 2,500 union members taking part.

In particular, they said recurring shortages in funding for wages have limited the agency's ability to improve working conditions through its own efforts alone. They called for changes to the fund management plan to normalize wages and for the necessary funding to be included in the 2027 budget.

Expanding staffing and program budgets to meet the demands of the expanded national policy agenda is another key demand. The unions argued that staffing and budgets are insufficient to support the expansion of programs and increased workloads, potentially adding to workers' burdens and lowering the quality of public services provided to the public.

Lee Yongwoo of the Democratic Party of Korea and Kim Wisang of the People Power Party also attended the rally and expressed their solidarity. Lee, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee, said he would address the unfair treatment of workers at the agency, while Kim said he would work to ensure that funding for the agency is included in the 2027 budget proposal.

The Joint Struggle Headquarters recorded a 94.93% approval rate in a vote held on October 27-28 on whether to take industrial action. Following the rally, it plans to hold a second all-out struggle on November 17, followed by a first joint strike involving around 6,000 people and a nationwide mass rally on November 26. The unions will set separate dates for medical services, including industrial accident hospitals, to minimize inconvenience to the public, while the medical workers' union has announced a second strike for December 1.

The Joint Struggle Headquarters said, "We will continue our struggle until our shared goals, including ending unreasonable wage disparities and securing staffing and budgets at the workplace, are achieved."

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