Ministry to crack down on excessive work hours

Plans to tighten on-the-spot checks especially at metal and food companies


The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to strengthen the monitoring of working conditions in industries known for excessive overtime and weekend work, as part of its drive to shorten labor hours, officials said Thursday.

Starting from next month, local labor authorities will conduct on-the-spot checks on up to 35,000 workplaces around the country. The inspections, though an annual event, will have a clear focus on working hours this year, the ministry said.

Metal manufacturing and food processing companies, including Asia’s top steelmaker POSCO, are likely to be the main targets, as they are known for their lengthy working hours.

According to the ministry’s data, workers in the car industry put in the most time, nearly 2,500 hours a year, followed by metal workers at 2,400 and food industry workers at 2,300.

The all-industry average is 2,111 hours.

The move comes a day after President Lee Myung-bak ordered measures to tackle the country’s ingrained culture of long working hours to distribute jobs to a greater number of people as the economy creates few new jobs.

“Shortened hours will have many positive impacts on our society, such as improving lifestyles, creating new jobs and boosting private consumption,” Lee said, ordering measures to shorten labor hours particularly at large conglomerates.

The ministry has been pushing to reduce long working hours, which it says hinder improvement in productivity, workers’ quality of life and the creation of new jobs.

Last year, it cracked down on carmakers and found all five firms operating in Korea had their employees work in excess of the 12 hours of weekly overtime that the law permits.

It urged the firms to end the double-shift production system, which divides the workforce into two teams ― a dayshift and a nightshift.

Under pressure, Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., ranking first and second in the industry, came up with a plan to hire 1,400 new workers and invest about 360 billion won in facilities this year in order to abolish night shifts and reduce excessive working hours.

The ministry also plans to push for a revision of labor laws to include weekend and holiday work in the calculation of the weekly overtime tally.

Currently, the statutory limit on weekly hours is 40 hours of regular work plus 12 hours of overtime. The rule, however, does not apply to weekend or holiday work, so it is not illegal to have an employee work 52 hours during the five working days and eight hours each on Saturday and Sunday.

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