Biz circles oppose expansion of paid leave by female employees

Five major economic organizations including the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) held a press conference at KEF`s building in central Seoul Tuesday and asked the government to stop pushing for legislation related to female employment.

In connection with a recent violent clash between former labor-union members of Daewoo Motor and the police, the organizations urged the labor sector not to take advantage of the incident. The other four organizations were the Federation of Korean Industries, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korea International Traders Association and the Korea Federation of Small Businesses.

At the press conference, Cho Nam-Hong, vice chairman of KEF, denounced that the government`s attempt to increase dates of paid leaves for female employees is totally unreasonable, when women find it difficult to find even jobs.

He said that as no international standards require days-off like those for pregnant women`s fetal checkups, paid maternity leave and vacations for miscarriages, the introduction of such leaves would only increase the financial burden of employers and hamper the national effort for economic recovery.

The organizations warned that implementing such a plan would only make companies reluctant to hire female workers and if the government offers financial assistance from the employment insurance, the insurance fund could deplete soon just like case of the medical insurance.

Ha Im-Sook artemes@donga.com