"'Flexible Working Hours' Reform by Yoon Government... FKI Says 'Union Workplace Occupation Part Is Regrettable'"

Position Statement on the Recommendation of the Future Labor Market Research Association on the 12th
"Regrettable that the Ban on Union Workplace Occupation Remains Only an 'Additional Task'"

Professor Kwon Soon-won of Sookmyung Women's University (second from the left) is announcing the recommendation report of the Future Labor Market Research Association at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 12th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) expressed overall agreement with the labor market reform recommendations from the Future Labor Market Research Group (Future Lab) but expressed regret on the 12th that strong measures to eradicate union strike actions were missing.

Regarding the Future Lab recommendations, Choo Kwang-ho, head of FKI’s Economic Headquarters, said, "We agree with the overall direction of the recommendations, which include flexible working hours and fair wage system reforms," but added, "It is regrettable that discussions on labor market flexibility, a core issue in the Korean labor market, were omitted, and that the prohibition of union workplace occupations and allowance of employer replacement labor were only proposed as additional tasks."

The recommendations include expanding the calculation unit for overtime hours from the current 'weekly' basis to 'monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual' units. The intention is to allow labor and management to select and utilize working hours flexibly according to the characteristics of each industry and workplace. For some weeks, overtime could be applied longer than the current '12 hours per week' limit, while for other weeks, it could be eliminated altogether.

To manage worker fatigue, the recommendations also propose adjusting the allowable overtime hours, which currently can be up to 156 hours per quarter under the law, to only 90% of that, or 140 hours. Choo said, "If the management unit for overtime hours is set to quarterly or longer, the reduction to 90-70% compared to the monthly unit needs to be supplemented."

The recommendations also propose introducing a working hours savings account system, allowing workers to save overtime hours and use them as vacation time. For high-income professionals such as lawyers and patent attorneys, the proposal includes an 'exception' where the 52-hour weekly limit does not apply, but no overtime pay is given either.

Regarding this, Choo commented, "Requiring companies to accumulate overtime hours at a rate higher than the current premium pay in the working hours savings account system will increase corporate burdens," pointing out that "Korea’s current premium pay is 50%, which is higher than Japan, France, Germany, and the UK." According to FKI, Japan applies 25% for overtime and night work and 35% for holidays. France applies 25-50%, while Germany and the UK allow flexible arrangements. All are lower than Korea.

He also expressed regret that strong control measures to eradicate union workplace occupations and overall labor market flexibility reforms were missing. Choo said, "Korea’s labor-management cooperation index ranks 130th out of 141 countries, indicating a backward situation," emphasizing, "Given that frequent union workplace occupations cause industrial losses amounting to trillions of won annually, urgent reform measures are needed." He added, "In the future policy reflection phase, I hope that opinions from the industrial field will be sufficiently gathered to promote more advanced reforms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.