The desire to use workers like machines, from flexible work to short-time work 

Min Choi 

DEC 23 2022

中文    한국어    日本語

In Korea, a weekly 40-hour system began to be implemented in 2004, but it was only in 2011 that it was applied to all workplaces in a sequential manner according to the type and size of the business. In addition, with the strange interpretation of the Ministry of Labor, which states that working hours can be extended up to '12 hours per week by agreement between the parties, and weekend work is not included in this’, in fact, Korean workers have worked in a society where they can work up to 68 hours a week.

Then, through the revision of the Labor Standards Act in 2018, the longest working hours in the week was limited to 52 hours. The process of changing the law was not easy. It was 'normalization' that was achieved only after large-scale traffic accidents occurred one after another due to drowsy driving by bus drivers who worked long hours, and innumerable overwork deaths occurred in various industries such as IT workers, taxi drivers, and postmen. Labor unions, NGOs and bereaved families strongly demanded and fought for the revision of the Labor Standards Act.

Even when the law was revised at the time, the 12-hour overtime work was maintained excluding weekends and the flexible working hour system, which was possible for up to 3 months, was later expanded to 6 months. Korea's working hours already allowed companies to use workers ‘flexible’ like machines, according to the needs of capital.

During the pandemic, companies used the special extended work system as much as needed. Special extended work system is to allow workers to work more than 12 hours a week, 'if there are special circumstances, with the approval of the Minister of Labor and the consent of the workers'. Activist Oh Min-kyu of the Labor Issues Research Institute pointed out that special extended work permits are rapidly increasing, with 908 in 2019, 4204 in 2020, and 6477 in 2021[1].

In addition, the effect of reducing working hours in the early days of institutional change is gradually disappearing. After 2019, at the beginning of the introduction of the 52-hour cap, actual working hours decreased not only for workers covered by the policy, but also among workers not covered[2]. However, in August of this year, the Ministry of Labor announced the results of 'supervision of long working hours in the first half of the year' and announced that 470 (94.4%) of 498 workplaces subject to supervision confirmed a total of 2,252 violations of the law, including violations of the overtime work limit and underpayment of overtime work. Of these, 48 workplaces (9.6%) required overtime work of 12 hours or more per week, and the average overtime working hours of violating workplaces was 18.4 hours per week.

The new government is adding fuel to this trend of going backwards. On December 12, a group of experts called the 'Future Labor Market Research Association' presented a recommendation that flexibility in working hours and labor market should be further increased. They insisted that the unit of overtime working hours should be increased from 12 hours per week to per month or quarter up to 440 hours per year. As recommended, even if weekly overtime is expanded to monthly only, it is possible to work up to 69 hours in a specific week, and in fact, 90 hours a week can be spent at work. The working time savings account system is recommended again which the previous government also continuously attempted to introduce, but it was abandoned several times because of the reality that there are still many workers who are unable to properly use up their annual leave and are forced to use annual leave at the desired time of companies.

At a time when capital is needed, while tricks are being developed that allow workers to be used flexibly, the number of short-time workers is increasing on the other side. Korea's Labor Standards Act makes exceptions for workers who work less than 15 hours a week on weekly holidays, annual leave, severance pay, health insurance and national pension insurance. For this reason, according to the desire of business owners to reduce this economic burden, the number of short-time workers increased from 1.302 million in 2019 to 1.512 million in 2021 and 1.647 million in March 2022. They work short time and their income is reduced in proportion to their working hours due to the exclusion of weekly holiday pay or severance pay. Therefore they have to work two or three jobs to make the ends meet, and find themselves in the paradoxical situation of 'short-time overwork'. I met a local government orchestra trumpet player who spent six days working per week which is 6-hour a week at the orchestra, 24 hour in three days a week at a cafe, and giving three private lessons a week.

In the end, the mindset of increasing flexible work and short-time work is the same. It is the desire to use workers like machines. In such a society, the overwork deaths of workers cannot disappear.

[1]Oh Min-gyu, in the road to flexible working hours, there is really something else to make problems. Pressian 2022.5.26

[2]Shim Jae-sun, Kim Ho-hyun. The Effect of the 52-Hour Weekly Cap on Long-Time Workers, Management Consulting Research, 2021, Vol 21. no.3