Precarious workers are suffering from long working hours

Cheong-hee Yu(KILSH) 

APR 22 2023

中文    한국어    日本語

  Overwork deaths of workers in blind spots not protected by the law

  Last March, a construction site in Daegu, a floor construction worker was found dead in his accommodation. It was reported that the worker died from overwork after working 13 hours a day and 80 hours a week for the past 4 months. After the worker's death, the Korea Flooring Labor Union held a press conference and exposed poor working conditions, overwork for long hours, and unprotected health rights of floor workers. They revealed that floor construction workers are not subjected to the Labor Standards Act, but registered as business operators paying business income tax, and have been working in an illegal multi-level subcontracting structure. It was also reported that under such poor conditions, they were suffering from delayed wages, not being paid severance pay properly, and had been working 80 hours a week.

  Normally floor construction workers are in charge of the final stage of construction, working on the floors of apartments and offices. In addition, the work intensity is very high as they even take on the task of cleaning various materials and filth left by previous workers. They are paid based on the number of working square meters, and it is a low-wage structure that requires skilled workers to work more than 13 hours a day to earn more than the minimum wage. it has recently been disclosed that as they are not given paid holidays and annual leave under the Labor Standards Act, 'holidays is equal to no pay day', so they work without days off and only take two days off per month. Even if they die from overwork, there are many cases that are not included in occupational accident statistics because they do not even take out employment insurance. Above all, it is a serious problem that they are not subjected to regulations on working hours under the Labor Standards Act because they are registered as business operators, not workers. According to the labor union, the deceased had to work six days a week, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays and from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekends. When the construction period was tight, he even had to work seven days a week. However, he is not subjected to the working hour regulation which is 40-hour work week and maximum 52-hour work week including overtime. How can we change the overwork of workers who are not protected by labor laws at all?

  Ways to prevent precarious workers from overwork

  In Korea, many workers receive wages according to a certain standard and work for a certain number of hours under the application of labor-related laws such as the Labor Standards Act and the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. If they are sick or injured and are approved as an occupational accident, they would be treated and compensated according to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. Under the Employment Insurance Act, they also have the right to receive unemployment benefits if they lose their job. However, many workers are not included as workers under the Labor Standards Act and are not subjected to the payment of wages or working hours according to the law. Even if these workers are severely overworked and died from overwork, it is difficult to regulate such workers' overwork under the current legislation. In order to prevent these workers from being overworked, it is necessary to consider all workers as workers, including those who are defined as business operators in the contract, but are workers in practice, such as special type workers or platform workers, so various workers should be included as workers under the Labor Standards Act and protected by the legal system.

  Last March, the Korean government, which issued a plan to revise working hours to allow workers to work up to 69 hours a week, seems to be taking a step back in the face of negative public opinion, including strong opposition from the labor community. The deadline for submitting opinions on the revision has been extended to receive public opinion . Whether it's 69 hours a week or 60 hours a week, if a worker work 20 or 29 hours overtime in addition to 40 hours a week, it already seriously damages to workers' health. However, it is not even checked the health of workers who work up to 80 hours a week as they are not subject to the existing law.

  According to the 2016-2020 personal service business income withholding tax data from the National Tax Service released by Rep. Jang Hye-young of the Justice Party, the number of non-wage workers reached 7.04 million in 2020. 'Personal service business income' refers to providing labor( personal service ) in the form of work , but being classified as a business operator under the tax law and reporting it as business income, not earned income.[1] Freelancers such as academy instructors and platform workers such as delivery riders, and special employment workers fall under this category. The overwork of these workers is not regulated by law, and typically delivery workers suffering from severe overwork. And the labor and health rights of so many workers are neglected because they are not workers in the law.

Workers not covered by the law should be included in the law, wages and working hours should be set to appropriate standards, and everyone should be able to work for appropriate hours. A system to prevent overwork of precarious workers must be established right now.

[1]“Platform workers, special employment workers and freelancers, those who pay 3.3% withholding tax are 7 million ”, Maeil Labor News, 2022.10.17.