KEF Advises `Not to Adopt Individually Five-day Workweek`

The business circle has initiated an all-out war to block introduction of a five-day workweek system by individual enterprises or by industries and to process the issue in a unified package in the Tripartite Consultative Committee among labor, management, and government.

The Korean Employers` Federation (KEF) held a leaders` meeting at Shilla Hotel in Seoul on May 31, and urged individual companies to restrain from introducing the five-day workweek system before a revision of related laws.

KEF stated in an announcement after the leaders` meeting in the day, `We are deeply worried about introducing five-day workweek system voluntarily through collective bargaining in banking sector and some manufacturing enterprises,` and requested to `restrain introducing five-day workweek system individually before the revision of related laws.`

The reason why the business circle opposes the measure is to improve vacation schemes such as monthly and yearly leaves so that the burden of the enterprises is reduced when they follow the shortening of working hours.

An Excusive of the KEF Kim Young-Bae said, `When five-day workweek system is introduced the overprotection of currant vacation system should be improved to the international standard, ` and pointed out, `If individual companies introduce five-day workweek system through collective bargaining, the efficient clean-up of the vacation system through the tripartite consultative meeting becomes hard to achieve.`

Ultimately the KEF position is intended to strength its negotiating power by normalizing the tripartite consultative committee and blocking the introduction of five-day workweek system in individual companies, which have been confirmed in a directive of the business circle through the leaders` meeting.

Accordingly, KEF distributed a countermeasure direction for employers of enterprises in the country in the day, which contained a content of `not to accept the demand for shortening of working hours by labor organizations.`

Additionally, it advised to implement an alternative Saturday leave system using monthly leaves and to reduce wages in proportion when considering introducing the five-day workweek system by demands of labor organizations.

The labor circle strongly criticized the directive of the business circle, `In a word, the directive is an irresponsibly idea`

Director-general of the All-Alliance of Korea Labor Unions Lee Jeong-Sik reacted, `Even though the shortening of working hours is an item already agreed upon between labor and management, the business circle is blocking the autonomous negotiations, which is nothing but an intention to delay the introduction of five-day workweek system.`

Jeong-Hun Park sunshade@donga.com