Legislation of Five Weekday Working within the Year at the Risk of Dispersion

The Federation of Korea Trade Unions (FKTU), which is negotiating over the issue of the introduction of the five weekday working system, issued a statement yesterday and began to attack the business circles, saying ``if the management group does not propose a plan to preserve the wage, the negotiation is meaningless. Hence, we will enter the full-scale struggle.``

Therefore, it seems highly probable that the Korea Tripartite Commission`s negotiation over the introduction of the five weekday working system may stop due to the strong opposition from the labor circle against the business circles` strong course. If the KTC does not agree, it is probable that the legislation of the system within this year may not take place.

In the issued statement, the FKTU criticized the business circles, saying ``the business circles said at first that it was `too early` to introduce the system, and then proposed that they would `accept with condition`, delaying the discussion. However, after the 10.25 election and reelection, they changed their stance to the `impossibility of preserving the wage`.``

The negotiation between the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) and the FKTU, which was reassumed on Tuesday night, ended even without discussing major issues because the two sides opposed to each other over the issue of the preservation of wage. The preservation of wage is to maintain the existing wage level even if the working hours are to decrease due to the introduction of the five weekday working system.

The business circles were reported to have made clear that they opposed to the preservation of wage due to the aggravation of management environment following the economic stagnation.

Especially, the FKTU added that it would make the `gaining of the 40 hours per week and the five weekday working without lowering of wage and the labor environment` as the core items for demand at the officials meeting next year, and would begin to discuss concretely regarding the general strike, by uniting with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The FKTU plans to hold the large-scale laborers` meeting on 18th.

The reason why the FKTU turned to the strong stance seems to be based on the analysis that the business circles withhold the discussion of the introduction of the five weekday working system and delay the introduction of the system itself by taking advantages of the current situation of the worsened economy due to the 9.11 U.S. terrorist attacks and the internal feud following the dismal failure of the Millennium Democratic Party at the election and reelection.

leej@donga.com