President Moon Jae-in called on the National Assembly for the passage of the revision bill of the Labor Standards Act in order to cut the long working hours. Otherwise, he hinted his intention to reduce the working hours through the rectification of the controversial administrative interpretation on the extended work hours. His remark attracts a growing attention if it could drive the National Assembly to deal with the passage of the amendment of the Labor Standards Act.
Cheong Wa Dae or the Presidential Office has also decided to prepare 'tower crane accidents prevention measures' in the frame of two-track approaches of the attainment of facility safety and the reinforced accountability for safety management by the actors in relation to the recent fatal accidents of tower crane crashes, which was announced in the top presidential secretariat meeting convened by President Moon on October 16.
President Moon expressed his concerns in the meeting over the deaths and suicides of post workers due to overwork and fatal traffic accidents by lorries and express buses, citing that "one of the biggest challenges facing Korean society is an overwork society" that records the longest working hours among OECD member countries.
President Moon stressed that the long working hours do not help the employment and quality of life. "There is no country working over 1,800 hours per year with the employment rate of over 70 percent," he said. "It is impossible to find out a breakthrough to raise the employment rate and quality of life without sharing the jobs through the reduction of working hours."
President Moon called on the National Assembly to make a passage of the pending revision bill of the Labor Standards Act. The Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly deliberated on the revision bill of the Labor Standards Act to limit the weekly working hours to 52 hours including the extended work hours in March and September this year, but failed to reach an agreement. With this backdrop, President Moon appealed to the National Assembly to "make a passage of the revision bill at the earliest (after the completion of the parliamentary inspection of the administration offices)". "The revision bill of the Labor Standards Act has been fully discussed since the 18th National Assembly, the passage must be made this time without fail," he said. "If considered the massage not possible, it would be necessary for the government to rectify the controversial administrative interpretation (on the weekly working hours)."
His remark is interpreted that if the parliamentary discussion on the amendment bill is stalled, the administrative interpretation by the Ministry of Employment and Labor which allowed the maximum 68 hours per week can be repealed. It is also understood that President Moon delivers a message of sharing jobs through the reduction of working hours, ahead of the 3rd plenary meeting of the Presidential Commission on Job Creation slated for October 18.
President Moon also focused on the social dialogue. He asked "the economic actors of business and labor to come forward to the social dialogue which is necessary for the sustainable economic development and improvement of the quality of life".
In the top presidential secretariat meeting, a report presentation on "tower crane accidents prevention measures' was made, followed the discussions. "The life and safety of people is the top priority value of the government," Park Soo-hyun, presidential spokesperson explained in his press briefing. "If the punishment only after the accidents has remained as the industrial safety measures in the past, the meeting came to a conclusion that it is time to design a fundamental improvement measure including the change of system and practice in the past."
Key words are the attainment of facility safety and reinforced accountability for the safety management according to the actors concerned. As for the attainment of facility safety, safety inspection on the imported second-hand and aged tower cranes will be strengthened, along with the usage limit of aged tower cranes(including the expansion of non-destructive inspection) and new penal provisions for false reporting of aging and inspection on the aged tower cranes.
Regarding the reinforced accountability for the safety management by the actors concerned, the reinforced management accountability for the big businesses, strong qualification management on tower crane operators and tower crane installment and disassembly workers and measures for stronger sanctions in cases of fatalities were discussed in the meeting. It is reported that the Prime Minister's Office will be in charge of working out the prevention measures of tower crane fatal accidents.
reported by Yon Yun-jung
translated by Kim Sung-jin