Minister reiterates push for shorter working hours

Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil on Monday reiterated his determination to end long working hours in Korea, saying the ministry aimed to revise laws to regulate weekend work.

“It is abnormal to have no regulation in place on weekend work,” the minister said.

Last week, he said the ministry would push for a revision of labor laws to include weekend and holiday work in calculation of overtime work which is by law capped at 12 hours a week.

Currently, it is not illegal to have an employee work on the weekends on top of the 12 hours of overtime during the workdays.

“Working hours are going up, not down, despite the agreement in the tripartite panel (of the government, labor unions and employers) to have the annual hours reduced to 1,800 hours a year by 2020,” the minister said.

Korean workers’ annual labor hours stood at 2,111 in 2010.

As of June, about 1.43 million workers, or 12.6 percent of the country’s total workforce, worked on weekends and holidays. The ratio went up to 24.6 percent among workplaces employing more than 300 staff.

“I will push to have the related laws amended swiftly once the next parliament is formed,” Lee said. Korea will pick members of the 18th National Assembly on April 11.

The ministry aims to submit a revision bill by June, he said.

In the meantime, the ministry will set up a system to monitor around the year workplaces hiring more than 100 employees and known for long hours, instead of periodic checks.

The labor union of Hyundai Motors, the country’s top automaker, demanded the government first devise measures to supplement workers’ wages, which are likely to be depressed once weekend work is restricted.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)