Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said a work-hour exemption written into a proposed law on mega industrial zones could be challenged as unconstitutional, remarks likely to stir controversy. While stressing that the zones must succeed, Kim offered little defense of the bill's central labor exemption when pressed by a lawmaker from the ruling party.
The exemption dominated a parliamentary audit of the ministry held by the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on the 27th. The ruling Democratic Party plans to file two versions of the bill — one with the labor exemptions and one without — and have them reviewed together.
At the center of the dispute is an easing of the 52-hour workweek. Article 132 of the bill would create a white-collar exemption, allowing employers and workers to set their own terms through written agreement, overriding Labor Standards Act rules on working hours, including the 40-hour week and overtime caps, as well as rest periods, holidays and premium pay. It would apply to workers in research and development and other designated roles who are in the top 3% of earners.
Rep. Lee Yong-woo of the Democratic Party said the provision runs "directly counter to Article 32 of the Constitution, which requires that standards for working conditions be set by law," noting that it shifts the 40-hour week, rest periods and holidays to individual written agreements rather than statute. Kim replied that such an argument "appears possible."
The minister also agreed with criticism of other exemptions in the bill. Lee said provisions expanding the scope and duration of dispatched work have appeared in four laws, including the Free Economic Zone Act, for more than 15 years "but have never once been applied in practice." Kim said he understood they had never been used.
Business groups and the opposition counter that the exemptions are essential and urgently needed for semiconductors and other advanced industries in the zones to stay globally competitive. Rep. Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party said the Democratic Party had yet to settle on a single version of the bill and that the minister's own position was unclear. "It hasn't even been decided whether to handle this by law or by presidential decree. It's just dragging on," she said.
Kim responded repeatedly to such criticism by saying he would seek a solution through social dialogue. The tripartite talks among labor, management and government that he cited, which are to determine whether the labor exemptions are included, have met five times so far. Participants plan to continue without setting a deadline.