President Lee Jae-myung on the 23rd instructed officials to "discuss whether the existing enforcement decree can be amended" in connection with exempting the semiconductor industry from the 52-hour workweek cap, prompting concern in the business community that legislation of a mega-regional special zone bill containing a white-collar exemption may now be off the table.
Until the Regulatory Rationalization Committee meeting chaired by Lee convened that day, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea had leaned toward a version of the mega-regional special zone bill, sponsored by Rep. Park Sang-hyun, that would grant labor exemptions including an exemption from the 52-hour cap. A consensus had formed between the party and the government on sharply easing regulations for the chip industry, with Lee himself repeatedly stressing the need for speed.
The mood shifted sharply after Lee said he did not believe "the thinking of the business community and the labor community differs enough to warrant serious confrontation," and asked the Ministry of Employment and Labor to consider improving the existing system instead. The remark signaled his view that the current system is already sufficient to address the issue of extending working hours. "The overriding premise is that we are not contemplating any approach that fails to compensate additional labor," Lee said. "If cost is not the issue, discuss whether the existing enforcement decree can be amended."
Under the current Labor Standards Act, the government may exceptionally permit extended work beyond 52 hours a week if a company obtains workers' consent and prior authorization. The arrangement is known as the special extended work system. Once authorized, working hours can be lengthened by 12 hours a week, to a total of 64 hours. For other industries the maximum authorization period is three months at a time, but last year the labor ministry revised the system to allow authorization of up to six months for the semiconductor industry alone. Labor groups argue that with such a mechanism in place, there is no reason to undermine the 52-hour system.
Business groups counter that administrative procedures blunt the effectiveness of the special extended work system. When intensive work is needed on short notice, they say, going through worker consent and an application and authorization process with administrative agencies makes it impossible to stay ahead in a time-driven advanced industry. "It is routine to run into an unexpected obstacle one day and work through the night for several days to solve it," an official in the semiconductor industry said. "Flexible work should be guaranteed by legislation rather than by an enforcement decree that can change with a change in government."
Ahn Dong-hyun, a professor of economics at Seoul National University, also stressed that research and development has distinctive work patterns, with intensive research concentrated in certain periods followed by long breaks, making it difficult to apply the existing system uniformly. "The most important thing in management is predictability, and there is no reason to add uncertainty through working-hour regulation," he said.
Some also said that by effectively laying down guidelines for revising the system, the president has drained momentum from the social dialogue and parliamentary legislative debate that had only just gotten under way. Last month the labor ministry launched a one-point social dialogue among labor, management and government to discuss labor exemptions in mega-regional special zones. The talks have continued for a month, following preparatory meetings at the vice-ministerial level and a working-level consultative body at the director-general level. So far they have done little more than confirm the differences between labor and management, but the ministry had planned to press ahead in hopes of producing results, given that the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions is also taking part. The Democratic Party had likewise opened the way for public debate by simultaneously introducing one mega-regional special zone bill specifying labor exemptions and another without them, sponsored by Rep. Choi Ki-sung. Lee's instruction to overhaul an enforcement decree under the government's own authority has now diminished the significance of that forum.
"Countries around the world are courting Korean semiconductor companies, offering to lift every regulation they need and even to provide various subsidies, yet in our country even the promised deregulation measures seem to be going backward, which is dispiriting," a senior business official said.
The government said that day, however, that it would support the semiconductor industry through a range of other regulatory exceptions, separate from any exemption from the 52-hour system. It will shorten the period for developing national semiconductor industrial complexes to within five years from the current 10, and apply a fast track under which permits, land compensation and complex design proceed simultaneously to minimize administrative procedures. Taking into account that individual chip fabs are designated as separate bonded areas, which restricts the movement of goods and equipment, the government will also expand the practice of designating entire semiconductor complexes as comprehensive bonded areas.
Regulations on humanoids and mobile industrial robots will be eased to levels comparable with competing countries, including by clarifying safety standards so that the machines can be used in workplaces without separate fencing if certain requirements are met.