BLUEPRINT ON REVISING 52-HOUR WORKWEEK

[Anchor Lead]

A blueprint on revamping the 52-hour workweek, a campaign pledge by President Yoon Suk-yeol, has been fleshed out. The key change is expanding options by allowing labor and management more leeway and freedom in the operation of working hours. However labor circles oppose the idea because this means maximum weekly work hours can increase.

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A group of experts was tasked with coming up with a revised work hour plan to be submitted to the government. The team, launched 5 months ago, presented a blueprint, the key to which is expanding the rights to work hour operation.

[Soundbite] Kwon Hyeok(Research group senior official) : "The existing 52-hour workweek rule is not compatible with the ever changing job types, duties and formats. Workers' preference for freedom and right of choice should also be considered."

The team has proposed the idea of diversifying the unit period of managing extended work hours, known as overtime, from the current weekly basis to longer periods of monthly, quarterly units or even six months or a year. Currently, overtime work cannot exceed 12 hours per week. A revised plan would be to cap this at 52 hours per month. This way, overtime work can be more flexibly implemented by packing more hours in certain weeks. A mandatory rule of enforcing 11 hours straight of rest between workdays is also being reviewed. If the overtime unit period is extended, employees can work up to 11.5 hours a day, even with the mandatory rest rule. This will raise maximum weekly work hours by 5.5 from the current level. Discussions are also underway regarding schemes such as compensating night time or holiday duties not with wages but with vacation days and introducing collective vacations where all workers take breaks together. Labor circles oppose the plans as they can incapacitate the 52-hour workweek system itself.

[Soundbite] Lee Sang-yun(Federation of Korean Trade Unions) : "The plan enables intense labor during certain periods, allowing firms to run long labor hours in their opportune time."

There are also concerns companies without labor unions could have management operating work hours the way they see fit. The expert group will announce a finalized proposal next month after gathering opinions of relevant parties.