The Korean government is threatening the existence of a public IT maintenance market worth KRW 1.60 trillion a year due to the hustle and bustle of the regular transition policy for temporary workers in the public sector. This is due to the government is classified as a full time work replacement for IT service companies and IT maintenance workers in public institutions, and the company is at risk of losing both manpower and the market at the same time.

According to the industry on September 4, Incheon International Airport Corporation, which has announced that it will convert 10,000 temporary workers into full-time employees by the end of the year, is pushing the regularization until the existing IT maintenance service contract is terminated. It will establish its own IT maintenance subsidiary and do our own maintenance by absorbing the people in the company.

According to the industry on August 31, it made a consultative meeting between the CEO and the CEO and started the transition process in earnest. Incheon International Airport, a major national facility, houses a variety of IT systems such as flight information, airport communications, security facilities, and cyber security related to entry and depa rture, baggage, and aircraft, as well as maintenance personnel. POSCO ICT for security facilities and airport communication, Asiana IDT for navigation communication, and SK InfoSec for cyber security are in charge of system maintenance, and their partner companies also reside in the field and manage the system.

Currently, the organization is promoting measures to directly hire airport IT maintenance personnel or to establish subsidiaries and transfer them from service companies. In the process, it has also considered the destruction of maintenance contracts with companies. However, it is now considering discussions on early termination of contracts through negotiations in consideration of penalties and problems with distribution. Most businesses are crying for this process and are considering early termination as they eat mustard.

IT industry expert said, "I have sent nearly 100 people to the airport. I received a plan to transfer the full-time job from the corporation and reviewed the legal response, but I finally agreed to terminate the contract as we cannot confront the organization. We are losing people and losing markets."

Another IT company representative said, "Airport maintenance companies recently selected staff members, and I heard that they have supported a lot of MS-level workforce."

According to the IT Service Industry Association, five member companies of the association have received cooperation letters from the public institutions that have contracted IT maintenance to form a labor-management consultation meeting. It suggests that the number of regularization agencies will increase after Incheon International Airport. According to the government`s full-time transition guidelines, the public sector must hire IT maintenance personnel directly in the form of dispatch and services, or establish subsidiaries and social enterprises to become full-time employees. The transition to full-time employment constituted a council of experts, experts, and experts in each organization, to reflect the position of the workers as much as possible. Among KRW 3.7 trillion of the annual public information project, the maintenance fee is KRW 45 billion, which is KRW 1.6 trillion. The rest are SW development and equipment purchases. Maintenance, which is a significant number, is a regular customer of the industry, while development is classified as an irregular element. As a result, mid-sized and mid-sized IT service companies, which are involved in SW development and maintenance, are in a situation where they will deviate from their workforce as a public organization with relatively good employment security and conditions. The problem is that the public IT market disappears, not just manpower. There is a growing sense of crisis that the collapse of the IT market from the government and public institutions will become a reality as the public institutions that have been entrusted with maintenance of IT systems to enterprises have shifted to self-actualization following the Incheon International Airport Corporation.

A company executive said, "If you directly manage IT maintenance in the public sector, it is very likely that you will lose the competitiveness of the industry owing to the dismissal of small and medium-sized companies, as well as the absence of a private alternative market.

Meanwhile, another company representative pointed out, "Since the contract period for public maintenance is usually one to two years, contractors are forced to hire irregular workers such as subcontractors and dispatchers, if the contract period is increased to 3 to 5 years rather than direct sales.”

"The government which implements the SW Industry Promotion Act, which restricts participation of large companies in the public market bidding, is trying to collapse the SME market by pushing the regularization policy that does not fit the market principle, IT maintenance will be suggested to the government to be eligible for full-time conversion exemptions."


By Hur Woo Young yenny@


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