940 call center workers of the National Health Insurance Service went on strike on the 1st, demanding direct employment and improved treatment. The Health Insurance Corporation said that it is difficult to directly hire workers from outside consignment companies. Strike workers are marching with pickets in front of the Wonju Health Insurance Corporation in Gangwon-do. Reporter Huh Moon-chan [email protected]
940 employees of the National Health Insurance Service Customer Center went on strike on the 1st. They insisted that they, who are workers belonging to the private consignment companies of the Health Insurance Corporation, should be directly employed by the Health Insurance Corporation. There are concerns that if the Health Insurance Corporation cannot overcome the pressure and decide to hire directly, it may become the’second incident of Incheon International Airport Corporation’. As a result of a massive strike, the phone connection to the Health Insurance Corporation’s customer center was not available or delayed, causing great inconvenience to health care subscribers.
940 members of the National Health Insurance Customer Center Branch of the KCTU public transport union started a strike that day and held a rally in front of the headquarters of the Wonju Health Insurance Corporation in Gangwon-do. 940 people accounted for 58% of the 1623 customer center employees. Ten of the 11 companies entrusted with customer center work from the Health Insurance Corporation took part in the strike. Metanet M Platform, UniS, Hyosung ITX, J&B Consulting, Jeniel, Hunect, KTis, Will & Vision, EK-Man Power, and Korea Corporation. One place that did not join the strike is GreenCS.
“According to the government’s policy to become a regular employee in the public sector, according to the government’s policy to become a regular employee in the public sector, private consignment companies that perform continuous work are also subject to regular employment.” The strike was inevitable,” he said. The Health Insurance Corporation said, “It is obvious that fixed-term workers belonging to the Corporation are subject to conversion to regular employees, but direct employment of workers from private consignment companies is completely different in nature.”
Young men and others who are preparing to join a public corporation oppose the direct hiring of the Health Insurance Corporation. On the 29th of last month, on the bulletin board of the Blue House National Petition, a message was posted saying,’I oppose the direct employment of employees of the National Health Insurance Service’s customer center’, and more than 3,000 consented opinions ran within four days.
The inconvenience of health subscribers is increasing. Jeong Mo, who runs a self-employed business in Mapo-gu, Seoul, exclaimed, “I made more than five calls to the customer center from 10 am to inquire about health insurance premiums, but I can’t connect.”
Regular employees of private companies press’employee employment’ on health news
940 health care consignment companies “You must hire yourself according to the policy of regular directing”
“It bursts.”
It is an evaluation from inside and outside the labor world that 940 members of the health insurance customer center went on strike on the 1st. The 940 people who took the strike are affiliated with private consignment companies of the National Health Insurance Service, claiming that the corporation should directly hire it in accordance with the current government’s policy of becoming regular workers. After the’Incheon International Airport Corporation Incident’ in June of last year, negative public opinion about the transition to a regular worker grew, and the demand for regular employment remained silent for a while. However, since there is still a lot of demand for direct employment, it is evaluated that the voice that has been suppressed has emerged.
Experts pointed out that in the sense that the employees of the health care customer center are’regular employees’ of private companies, it is not possible to force the outflow of employees to private companies as they deviate from the purpose of the policy to become regular employees. However, criticism has been raised that the confusion in the field is intensifying as the government neglected the issue of direct employment of private consignment companies without clear guidelines even after suffering the Incheon International Airport Corporation crisis.
○Geonbo Corporation Call Center “Please hire us directly”
Customer center employees who are entrusted by the Health Insurance Corporation to provide health-related inquiries and consultation services have requested’direct employment of public institutions’ since the end of 2019. This is because there is a lot of collaboration between the customer center and the industrial complex, and because it handles personal information of subscribers, direct hiring is also necessary for security. Other public institutions, such as the National Pension Service, Labor Welfare Corporation, and other public institutions directly hired customer service staff in 2019, and there was a lot of public opinion saying, “Why not just us?”
However, the Kunbo Corporation has drew a line saying that “direct employment is difficult”. First of all, non-regular workers, such as fixed-term workers belonging to public institutions, are clearly subject to conversion to regular workers, but private entrusted companies are not obligated to convert them. The Ministry of Employment and Labor, which is responsible for the policy for regular workers, also said, “The issue of direct hiring of private consignment companies is a matter that the labor and management decide autonomously. The management difficulties were also great. The total number of employees at the customer center reached 1623, accounting for 10% of the total number of employees of the Health Insurance Corporation (16,240). If you hire all of them directly, the cost burden becomes too high. Since last year, the management situation of the institution has become even more unstable due to the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19).
However, with this explanation, it was not enough to alleviate the complaints of the customer center staff and eventually led to a strike.
○“What standards do you hire directly from private companies?”
The society’s gaze on the strike is not just fine. In particular, the complaints of young people are strong. On the 29th of last month, an article was posted on the Blue House National Bulletin, saying,’I oppose the direct hiring of employees of the National Health Insurance Service’s customer center’. In four days, more than 3,000 people agreed.
The author, who introduced him as a job-prepared student who has been preparing for a job at the Health Insurance Corporation for four years, argued, “It is clearly wrong to request employment by regular employees of private companies, ignoring the fair recruitment process of the Health Insurance Corporation.” This means that private consignment companies are not subject to the policy of regular workers for non-regular workers and should not be.
There is also a lot of awareness about the fairness of the hiring process. Many young people are striving to find employment in public institutions through competitive hiring, and employees of private consignment companies point out whether it is justified to become a full-time job without such a competitive process. In the process of converting to a full-time job, irregularities in hiring were also a factor that raised youth’s anger. Seoul Transportation Corporation, Road Corporation, and Southeast Power Corporation received many family hirings during the transition to non-regular workers and received an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
There are also many complaints inside public institutions. An official from the Health Insurance Corporation said, “As employees who have entered a full-time job through a fair hiring process, seeing that they are directly hired by a private company will have no choice but to feel deprived.”
Young-ki Choi, a visiting professor at Hallym University’s Department of Business Administration, said, “The problem is that the government has only inflated the expectation of being able to become a full-time employee without clarifying the policy on the targets and standards for conversion to regular workers. It has to be prepared.”
Reporter Seo Min-jun/No Gyeong-mok [email protected]