The agreement to change temporary positions into permanent positions at Pusan National University Hospital (PNUH) is at a standstill. The deal was postponed due to the vacancy of the hospital director, but it was not improved even after the appointment of the hospital director, which led to the hospital labor union’s announcement of a strike. Of the 13 national university hospitals nationwide, PNUH is the only hospital where the problem of transition to permanent positions has not been solved.

On January 19th, Lee Jeong-Joo, a former Deputy Chief of the Medical Clinic, took over the hospital director position which had been vacant since April of last year. Two months have passed since the hospital director took office, but the transition to permanent positions has not been achieved yet.

Discussions on the transition to permanent positions at PNUH have not led to an agreement for five years. Conflicts have continued since the government announced the "Guidelines for the Transition to Permanent Workers in the Public Sector" in 2017. At that time, temporary workers at the national university hospitals were included in the first stage of transition.

Currently, about 500 of the employees of PNUH, who belong to service companies as temporary workers, asked the hospital for direct employment. Moon Mi-Cheol (director of the PNUH, Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union) said, "We are being discriminated against in parts of employment or wages overall (as irregular workers). If direct employment is not achieved, we have no choice but to strike."

According to local media reports in December of last year, PNUH cited the vacancy of the hospital director as the reason for the delay in the agreement about the transition to permanent positions. In other words, it was impracticable to make a big decision to switch to a permanent position as an acting director.

However, there was no change even after the hospital director position had been filled. Two months have passed since the new hospital director took office, but no progress has been made on the transition to permanent positions. In response, the hospital labor union took a firm line, announcing a strike if negotiations were not concluded by May. Director Moon said, “We tried to negotiate as the director was appointed, but the hospital did not offer any plans for direct employment.”

PNUH says it is difficult to hire all workers directly right away. Considering the hospital's budget, direct employment may undermine the hospital's finances, leading to issues such as cutting the wages of existing employees. PNUH argues that direct employment is not the only answer to reaching an agreement and stresses the necessity of different ways.

While the tension between PNUH and the hospital labor union continues, both sides predict that an early agreement will be difficult. PNUH has not come up with the proper solution to the strike in May. An official at PNUH said, "We have not been able to find common ground because it is difficult to satisfy the demands of both sides at the same time. Now that it has been a while since the new hospital director settled in the position, we should watch a little more."

Reporter Yoon Da-Gyo

Translated by Kwon Eun-Ji