Meal allowance is the most basic condition of workers' welfare. However, the workplace where people go to 'make a living' is becoming a place where it is 'difficult to make a living'. The meal allowance of 2,700 won has been frozen for 5 years, and there are absurdities where meal allowance is paid differently based on different employment types. In an era of inflation where everything except my salary is increasing. 《Tracking 60 Minutes》 has collected stories of various people who are speaking up for a decent meal. ■ Is 2,700 won for a meal really a fair price? Kim Myo-sun, a cleaning worker at Induk University, eats lunch with her colleagues by gathering side dishes brought from home. Their monthly meal allowance has been 120,000 won for 5 years, which is about 2,700 won per meal for them who have to eat two meals a day at work. Cleaning workers at 14 private universities in Seoul who are going through the same situation have been trying to negotiate for 5 months in solidarity, but the school is still silent. It is 20,000 won per month. This is it. If you calculate it as hourly wage, it’s 100 won. Mr. President, if you can hear me, please come to our interview 10 minutes early. Kim Myo-sun / University cleaning worker Ironically, the higher your income, the more you are guaranteed to eat as an extension of your work. On the other hand, some people have to eat with their own money. I think the hierarchy of labor is revealed at the dinner table. - Lee Ra-young / Author of “Political Table” - ■ 0 won vs. 200,000 won, is there even discrimination in meal expenses? Early in the morning, Kim Geon-ho packs his lunch and goes to work. He has been working as a contract worker at a large mart for 5 years. What makes him sad is the discrimination here and there, such as the special performance bonus of about 15% of that of regular workers and the basic performance bonus that is not paid. The lunch expense item on the regular worker’s pay statement does not apply to Geon-ho either. Don’t Koreans talk about having a heart for food? The company doesn’t provide us with the basic requirements to work hard. My position at the company is still at the bottom. - Moon Hyun-jin / Large Mart Non-regular Contract Employee - ■ Superficial System Improvement Road Traffic Authority call center counselors often eat lunch in the break room instead of the cafeteria. Ramen and sandwiches are their main menu. They claim that their actual treatment has not improved even though they were converted from irregular workers to regular workers of subsidiaries in accordance with the government's policy in 2019. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance recommends a meal allowance of 140,000 won for employees converted to regular workers, but their meal allowance is 100,000 won. It has been eight months since subsidiary workers went on strike demanding a 40,000 won increase in meal allowance, but the subsidiary and the headquarters are both passing the responsibility for the solution to each other. They are asking us not to do anything. At least for the food. To be honest, we won't starve to death even if the meal allowance isn't increased by 40,000 won. But the 40,000 won increase in meal allowance is largely due to our unfairness. - Kim Won-ah / Korea Road Traffic Authority subsidiary employee - Kim Moon-soo (59), a second-year employee of a subsidiary of Korea Railroad Corporation. His job is to move around the subway station and maintain order in the station. Naturally, his meals are irregular, and since there is no set restaurant, he has to buy every meal, and his monthly meal cost of 140,000 won is not enough for him. He says that he is not happy about the increase in meal costs. This is because according to the Minimum Wage Act amendment that went into effect in 2019, meal costs can be included in the minimum wage. The meal costs that we fought together to raise ended up cutting my base salary. Not only did they take away my meal money, but they actually hurt the union members and employees because of this. - Seo Jae-yu / Branch Manager of the Railway Workers' Union, KORAIL Networks - ■ The lives of Korean workers who are forgetting their 'food spirit' Kim In-sook (51), from Haman-gun, Gyeongnam, is a 4th-year employee at a waste disposal facility. Most of her colleagues working there are over 50 years old and receive a minimum wage. When it's lunchtime, Kim In-sook goes home to eat lunch. It's a habit she developed because she thought she couldn't eat out because the meal costs weren't set. To be honest, I'm not that young. “I can’t say, ‘I deserve this much, but this is too much.’” Because anyone else gets paid minimum wage. - Kim In-sook / Temporary worker at a waste disposal site - Kim Min-ju (23), who graduated from college this year, works part-time at the information desk at a sports center near her home. Her monthly salary, including her allowance, is 2.4 million won. Ther