The ruling party and labor unions are strongly opposing the government's proposed '69-hour workweek reform plan.' Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, raised his voice, saying it "forces people to death from overwork," and the two major labor unions criticized it, saying it "exceeds the '64 hours per week' standard for recognizing industrial accident overwork." The ruling party and the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC) tried to calm the situation by saying, "It does not mean working 69 hours every week," but it is uncertain whether the backlash will subside.
At the Democratic Party's Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 8th, Lee said, "The government says it will push forward with a labor reform that increases the maximum weekly working hours to 69. Under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, workers are not citizens but objects of exploitation," criticizing the government by adding, "The era of increasing production by extending working hours is already over."
Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, also said, "During the presidential election, I thought President Yoon's remark about '120 hours of work per week' was a slip of the tongue, but it has become a reality less than a year after the government took office," and "according to the government's reform plan, the working hours, which are currently 52 hours per week, will increase to a maximum of 80.5 hours." The 'maximum 80.5 hours' is an extreme case assumed by some in the labor sector, based on working seven days a week.
The ruling party responded by emphasizing the advantages of a flexible work system that allows workers to rest later, arguing that the term '69 hours per week' could cause misunderstandings that people would work 69 hours every week. Sung Il-jong, policy chief of the People Power Party, said on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "I think some are opposing just for the sake of opposition," and "When they hear '69 hours per week,' it seems to be distorted to mean working 69 hours every week, causing some confusion."
He also promoted the idea that overtime can be saved and used later for longer breaks. He emphasized, "The idea is to save this time (overtime) and, for example, take two weeks off instead of one week of vacation," and "Another change being introduced is that when working overtime on weekends, if you work 10 hours, you can take 50% more time off as a bonus." This means that through a labor savings account, if a worker works 10 hours, they can get a bonus of 15 hours off.
Kim Moon-soo, chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, brought up the 'realistic' argument that the current '52-hour workweek system' does not fit well with industries such as broadcasting, legal professions, or manufacturing with seasonal workloads. On SBS's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show,' he said, "Strictly enforcing the '52-hour workweek' would mean almost all companies would be punished," and "For example, in broadcasting companies during the World Cup or Olympics, those involved in broadcasting cannot just say, 'I've reached 52 hours, so I'll take a break now,' and stop."
However, there are many voices pointing out the impracticality of 'saving up rest days.' Even legally guaranteed parental leave is often difficult to take in the workplace due to social pressure. In response, Chairman Kim said, "It may not be possible immediately, but efforts must be made so that workers can take their own leave, and supervision must be strengthened," adding, "Labor supervision at workplaces should be intensified to receive reports on places that are not complying, and employers must also change." This means responding by strengthening labor supervision.
The government and ruling party have raised their voices that the 69-hour workweek system may not be introduced depending on labor-management consultations, but there is criticism that they are ignoring the domestic reality where unionization rates are only 10%. Relatedly, there are many criticisms that the government is 'demonizing' labor unions by highlighting only the deviations of some unions without considering the poor union environment. Regarding this, Chairman Kim said, "If we rely too much on the rule of law, can workers properly claim their rights only with the law? Also, the law has shortcomings and errors, so in that respect, broad dialogue with workers is necessary. Therefore, reforms should be made through tripartite agreements among labor, management, and government."
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