Labor : Society : News : The Hankyoreh

“69 hour work week reform, what do you think?” On the 18th, the Youth Union posted a short post on the social network service (SNS) before meeting with Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jeong-sik on the 24th, and after four days (at 4:00 pm on the 22nd) , the opinions of 210 young people were poured in. Kim Seol, chairman of the Youth Union, said, “We were in a situation where we could not maintain any systematic publicity, but small workplaces and unstable young workers gave us a lot of opinions.” Among those who sent an opinion, 168 were businesses with fewer than 100 employees, job seekers, or freelancers. Although they hold daily labor management meetings with an emphasis on ‘listening to the views of the MZ generation’, mainly the voices of young office workers in large corporations or young workers who have not yet reached government who met their own youth groups . In the opinion sent until today, a 31-year-old subcontractor said, “I didn’t feel like doing anything after working 52 hours.” A 33-year-old job seeker who is currently taking a break from work said, “It took me over a year to recover from quitting when I was working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week.” A 23-year-old adjuster who works in a company with less than five people said, “Time can never mean a simple number in labor that requires a part of the individual.”

Youth activists of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions hold a surprise demonstration at the labor management meeting at the Seoul Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 15th, urging Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik to abolish the 69-week system an hour. Reporter Shin So-young viator@hani.co.kr

Concerns about compressed and concentrated labour, which began with the government’s working hours reform scheme, led to thoughts about my body, my productivity, the messy reality, and the dignity of workers before ‘working time’. presents the views of ‘ordinary young people’ who have been transferred to the Youth Union. These views will be presented to the Minister for Employment and Labor on the 24th. “A colleague at work with two children was sighing more, and a younger sister who had plans for children was putting everything off. A colleague in ill health is full of worries, and the world is said to leave a friend with weak stamina.” (Age 39, workplace with less than 30 employees) “When I was working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, it took more than a year to recover after stopping work. Lack of exercise? Where is the time to exercise and eat healthy while working more than 10 hours a day? Is it a part that workers will use once and throw away?” (age 33, job seeker) “I had an experience where my health deteriorated significantly while working overtime almost every day. Looking at the monitor for a long time made my eyes blurry, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and suffered from insomnia and hyperventilation due to stress.” (37 years old, professional) “It is clear that if the working hours are revised, we will go beyond the low birth rate and enter the period of the very low birth rate… I heard that the Ministry’s public servants Employment and Labor also suffer from overtime work during the week and at weekends. Don’t you even feel sorry for your subordinates?” (Age 33, workplace with less than 30 to 100 employees)

“The labor of blaming individual workers for not thinking about improving their work and not overexerting their bodies has been enough so far. However, if companies are allowed longer time beyond the current 52 hours, it would be like the government stepping in and allowing such atrocities” (30 years old, media /culture, workplace with less than 30 employees) I can , but I really want to relieve the boss’s guilt. Hire more people to do more work. Young people who are already grinding, don’t grind and drink even the bone powder” (age 34, workplace with less than 30 employees) “Creating a work-life balance with a flexible work system? It’s a work-life balance environment that can’t be created even with the current 52 hours including overtime, and it’s impossible to use alternative holidays properly.” (age 36, social worker, workplace with less than 30 employees) I woke up twice, worked until 11 o’clock every day, and ended up spending 300 on hospital bills in less than a year.” (age 29, design, workplace with more than 300 employees) often does. Creativity comes from new experiences and relaxation. Even if the working hours system is reformed, working hours must be reduced.” (32 years old, developer, workplace with less than 30 to 100 employees) “After working like this, I really don’t feel like doing anything. Working 51 to 52 hours is also inferior to the company, but working more than 60 hours is heard saying that the company should sleep and go to work.” In the history of cutting working hours, who are the workers who still have no choice but to earn money through long labour? What kind of worker should be the standard of the basic law that becomes the standard? I see no consideration in this reorganization. Design the system based on the workers who need to be protected first.” (29 years old, office worker, workplace with less than 30 employees) “I worked 9 hours a day and 45 hours a week. My job was sweets, so I had a light joke with my friends and performed intensive work to the point of being called a hygienic construction site. No matter how much it is an act based on one’s own choice or unwillingness depending on the situation, time can never mean a simple number in labor to which a part of the individual is assigned.” (23 age, a confectionery company, a workplace with less than 30 employees) “Will all the damage caused by labor go away if I take a break after long hours of work? Why does it cause so much damage to one human being in the first place? The fact that long working hours of 69 hours a week are possible in itself is a red flag for workers’ health rights. (37 years old, art, freelancer) “The effect of working conditions in the central labor market was driving other working conditions to a negative side. I think freelancers will work more and more.” (29 years old, office worker, freelancer) Reporter Bang Jun-ho whorun@hani.co.kr