After the government announced its plan to push a "public institution function reform plan" centered on cutting 109 public institutions in total, the two major civil servant unions pushed back.
The joint countermeasures committee of the public sector under the two major umbrella unions (the joint committee) said in a statement on the 3rd that "this function reform plan includes many consolidation and function adjustment measures that raise serious concerns about rolling back public institutions' services for the public," adding, "we express serious concern and regret."
It went on, "we strongly condemn the government's undemocratic backroom governance that excluded substantive consultations with stakeholders and social debate in the process of formulating the function reform plan." The joint committee includes the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), along with five industrial unions of public institutions.
The joint committee said it agreed on the need for a grand shift in public institutions, but argued that the government's function reform plan focuses on quantitative cuts and expense reduction over public interest.
The joint committee particularly pointed out that 76.1% of the cuts (109) target subsidiaries or small institutions. The point is that, to meet the reduction goal ordered by President Lee Jae-myung, the plan may have indiscriminately included subsidiaries or small institutions that are relatively less powerful.
The joint committee said, "horizontal integration without expanding the parent entity's responsibility and without substantive improvements in treatment is nothing more than a stopgap that cannot solve the fundamental problems of subsidiaries created during the process of converting workers to regular status."
The joint committee also called the planning process undemocratic. It said, "the Public Institution Management Committee, convened at 9:30 a.m. that day, hastily approved, in just one hour, the plan to cut 109 among roughly 200 target institutions," adding, "at the unions' request, the government and the two umbrella unions held several consultations, but they remained merely formal discussions."
The joint committee demanded thorough verification and supplementation. It added, "the government and President Lee Jae-myung should not end this policy with an announcement, but should clearly promise the public that it will be finally confirmed only after thorough verification reflecting voices from the field, social debate, and substantive labor-government consultations."
The joint committee also called for effective measures to ensure that working conditions do not deteriorate during consolidation, including guaranteeing total headcount and total employment, providing budget support for upgrading working conditions, and adjusting total labor costs.
The joint committee said, "immediately launch a regular and stable labor-government consultative body that includes the government, the two umbrella unions, and the labor sector of public institutions," and warned, "if you press ahead with reform aimed only at reducing the number of institutions and cutting expense without sufficient verification and social consensus, and persist with backroom governance, you will face a strong response."