The South Korean government finds that the current legal maximum set at 52 hours per week does not meet the needs of businesses.
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In South Korea, working time is currently set at 52 hours per week: 40 legal hours to which 12 additional hours can be added. It is a law of 2018 which established this ceiling to prevent the overwork of employees.
However, the current Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, wants to change this rule, which he considers unsuitable “given the labor needs of different industries, particularly to cope with workloads when demand is high or in high season,” says The Korea Times newspaper. The Korean government therefore wishes to reform this weekly working time so that it can bend to the needs of different companies.
According to Le Figaro, which relays this reform project, employees could thus perform up to 29 hours of additional work per week, i.e. a total weekly duration of 69 hours. In return, employees could benefit from more holidays during the year, during slower periods.
But the Korean government may well encounter some difficulties in its approach, because the workers’ coordination groups have clearly expressed their opposition to these new policy proposals, points out The Korea Times.
Thus, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a statement in which it describes this proposal as “a retrograde revision of the law which would leave the decision on wages and working hours to employers”.
With information from Ouest France