School female non-regular workers “stigmatized as ‘cooking lady’… Decent wages”

Song In-gyeong (49) has been working as a childcare specialist in a childcare class at an elementary school in Gangwon-do for about 10 years. She prides herself on having her expertise by holding a nursery teacher’s license and 12 certifications that can be used in after-school classes such as origami and calligraphy, but the eyes around her are different. Ms. Song said, “I would like to increase my working hours because preparation for classes is tight with a 6-hour work day, but the education authorities’ perception is that ‘why do you need preparation to babysit? They look down on them as ‘a woman who cooks’ or ‘a woman who takes care of children’, so they don’t seem to be paying a reasonable wage.” On the occasion of International Women’s Day on the 8th, female non-regular workers at schools like Song gathered in front of metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide to hold a press conference and raise awareness of the discriminatory view of ‘doing worthless work that any woman can do’ and the double suffering of low wages. He spoke of the reality he suffered from. According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ National Office of Education and Public Affairs, as of 2022, 95.8% of non-regular school workers are women, and they are mainly in charge of cooking and cleaning school meals and taking care of students. Non-regular school workers say that they are not treated fairly due to the prejudice that it is ‘women’s work’, even though they are working at the forefront of education and welfare, such as preparing meals and taking care of children. Cho Soon-ok, head of the Seoul branch of the National Office for Education and Public Affairs, said, “Tasks such as cooking, feeding, and caring are devalued as marginal tasks and wages are low.” It shouldn’t be treated as if you’re doing it,” he said. They criticized the metropolitan and provincial offices of education for being passive in improving the low wages and treatment of non-regular school workers. Lee Yoon-hee, head of the National Office of Education Headquarters, said, “Many irregular school workers do not receive wages during vacation, so during vacation, they go to a distribution center or restaurant after obtaining permission to hold a concurrent position.” “Isn’t it enough if it is enough?” is the perception of the Office of Education,” he said. On this day, the Education Office Headquarters announced that it would hold a general strike on the 31st along with the National Union of School Temporary Workers and the National Women’s Union. They have been negotiating wages 21 times with the city and education offices since September of last year, but have not been able to find an agreement on the extent of the wage increase until the start of the new semester. They claim that the wage level of non-regular school workers is only 60-70% of that of grade 9 civil servants, and are demanding a basic salary increase and the same standard applied to regular workers when paying welfare benefits. Reporter Kim Min-je summer@hani.co.kr