South Korean Labor Unions Condemn Proposed 52-Hour Workweek Relaxation

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The nation's two major umbrella labor unions on Monday strongly condemned the government's alleged move to relax the 52-hour workweek rule for a new semiconductor production cluster to be built in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a joint statement vowing to block the proposed special law that would exempt some white-collar workers in the Gwangju cluster from the 52-hour workweek rule and introduce other labor deregulation measures there.

The labor unions then demanded a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung to discuss the issue.

The special law, reportedly disclosed by the labor ministry to some ruling party lawmakers last week, included a plan to exempt managers and researchers in the top 3 percent of income earners from the 52-hour workweek limit, as well as overtime, night and holiday work allowances, and instead provide them with fixed allowances.

The nation's 52-hour workweek law, introduced in 2018 to prevent overwork, mandates that overtime be limited to 12 hours a week, capping the total workweek at 52 hours.

The joint statement said easing of the 52-hour workweek was an anti-labor policy pursued by the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government and the two labor unions are bewildered and could hardly contain their anger at seeing the same policy under the Lee Jae Myung government.

It then demanded a meeting between the two labor unions and Lee as soon as possible, as a starting point for social dialogue on the issue.

"If the government unilaterally pushes ahead with the special labor law, the Lee government and the labor community will head toward a confrontation that will be difficult to resolve," the statement warned.

Meanwhile, the labor ministry said it just explained the various demands from the field and positions of different sectors and the specific details of the special law have not yet been finalized.