On May 18, the Ministry of Interior and Safety held the first meeting of the "2026 Public Employee Union Policy Council," chaired by Deputy Minister Kim Min-jae.
About 20 representatives from three major public employee unions—the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union, the Federation of Korean Public Service Workers' Unions, and the National Public Service Workers' Union—attended the meeting to discuss improvements in working conditions for local public employees, including personnel and service matters.
Established in 2018 and operating annually, the policy council serves as a crucial communication channel for discussing institutional improvements related to personnel, service, and compensation for local public employees.
This year, the unions proposed a total of 20 agenda items reflecting practical challenges in the public sector, categorized into organization and personnel (four items), service and allowances (eight items), budget (three items), and training (two items).
Key discussion topics included improving treatment for emergency responders, abolishing the part-time public employee system, and reforming the duty work system. Other issues related to public employees' work environment, such as mandatory labor education and raising the upper limit for negotiated contracts, were also addressed.
The policy council plans to conduct detailed practical discussions on each agenda item following this initial meeting, with final results expected to be confirmed in December.
Deputy Minister Kim stated, "Each agenda item presented to the policy council reflects the real voices from the field of policy implementation. We will actively work to ensure that the difficulties faced by frontline public employees are effectively resolved through in-depth discussions."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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