More than 800 schools halt meal services due to ongoing staff strike

School support staff in the Honam region continued striking for a second day on Thursday, calling for better pay and working conditions, following similar walkouts in Seoul and Incheon.

Students at an elementary school in Jeonju eat bread, beverages and fruit, as substitution meals for regular school lunches, as school workers in the Jeolla region went on strike the previous day, on Nov. 21. [NEWS1]

School support staff in the Honam region continued striking for a second day on Thursday, calling for better pay and working conditions, following similar walkouts in Seoul and Incheon. The strike disrupted meal services at more than 800 schools, inconveniencing students and parents.

A total of 4,487 school support staff across Gwangju, South Jeolla, North Jeolla and Jeju participated in the strike, according to the Ministry of Education. Of the 2,050 schools in the four regions scheduled to provide lunch, 822 — or 40.1 percent — halted meal services.

Among them, 749 schools provided substitute meals such as bread and milk. Care services were suspended at 92 out of 1,092 designated schools, or 8.4 percent.

One elementary school in Gwangju offered Taiwanese-style ham and cheese sandwiches, apple juice and tangerines for lunch. The school had notified parents of the substitute menu in a letter sent home on Monday.

“My child often says they’re still hungry even after eating school lunch, and the substitute meal looked too small, so I made sure they had a hearty breakfast,” said one parent.

“I understand they’re going through a hard time,” said another parent, “but I wish they wouldn’t take it out on the kids’ meals.”

The National Federation of Nonregular School Workers (translated) began a region-by-region relay strike on Thursday, demanding higher base pay, holiday bonuses, and pay during school breaks, among other improvements.

Students are a middle school in Gwangju receive substitution meals as school workers in the Jeolla region went on strike the previous day, on Nov. 21. [NEWS1]

The group consists of the Public Nonregular Education Workers' Union, the Korean Women Workers Association and the School Nonregular Workers' Union. They also held protests in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday and Friday.

On Thursday, 6,921 support staff in Seoul, Incheon, Gangwon, Sejong and North Chungcheong joined the walkout. Lunch service was halted at 1,089 schools, which accounted for one-third of all schools in those regions scheduled to provide lunch. Care services were suspended at 25 schools, or 1.6 percent.

Separately, around 1,200 support staff from the Gangwon chapter of the nonregular workers' union held their own two-day strike. On Friday, 406 out of 660 schools in Gangwon served substitute meals — five more than the previous day.

Participants during a rally of nonregular school workers are seen in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Nov. 21. [YONHAP]

The Education Ministry, regional education offices and the labor council plan to resume negotiations next Thursday. If talks break down, the council has said it will stage another round of walkouts on Dec. 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) urged lawmakers to pass the School Strike Impact Mitigation Act, a partial amendment to related labor acts, recently introduced by Rep. Jung Sung-kook of the People Power Party.

The bill would allow the deployment of replacement workers during school support staff strikes to ensure meal and health services continue uninterrupted.

KFTA President Kang Joo-ho held a press conference Thursday, calling for school meal services, health care and other student safety-related tasks to be designated as essential public services.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY LEE BO-RAM [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]