The government says it will be suspended 52 hours a week.

The Minister of Employment and Labor, Lee Jae-gap, announced on the 30th in the Seoul Government Complex that “the application of a weekly system of 52 hours to companies with 50 to 299 employees in January next year will be implemented without exception. “. Yunhap news

Medium, small and medium-sized businesses are opposed to the government’s announcement that the 52-hour week system will be implemented without delay for workplaces with 50 to 299 employees in January next year. In particular, companies whose work is concentrated according to delivery date, such as the shipbuilding industry, complained that it is practically difficult to implement the 52-hour-a-week system, and “has no choice but to become an illegal company.

Small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 300 employees in January next year will also apply the 52-hour week. Graphics Team

“Working days are irregular depending on the weather due to the nature of the shipbuilding industry that assembles outdoor structures. If you can’t work overtime, you may not be able to meet the delivery date.” “We need to increase the amount of manpower, but now there is no place with such capacity other than the Big 3 shipyards (Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries).” “I know that there is no company that can properly implement the 52-hour week system among the medium-sized yards in Gyeongnam,” he said. “(If implemented), we have no choice but to go through the procedure of becoming illegal and paying fines.”

He also pointed out that there is a limit to the six-month extension of the flexible work system, which is pending in the National Assembly. “After self-investigation, it is common for the workday to exceed 68 hours per week at the end of the due date,” he said.

In particular, in the case of the shipbuilding industry, there is a concern that it will lead to the departure of skilled workers. “As a result of a recent survey of subcontractors, according to the result of a recent survey of subcontractors, Jeong Seok-joo, executive director of the Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Plant Association, anticipates that 20% will be transferred to other industries due to a decline in wages, especially due to the nature of the shipbuilding industry, which has a lot of overtime work. ” . “It is the most painful situation in the long term, as it leads to a decrease in competitiveness due to a decrease in productivity,” Jung added.

The same goes for auto parts manufacturers. The president of a parts manufacturer B with fewer than 300 employees said: “It is still very tight to meet the delivery date of popular models, even if they operate 60 hours a week.” It’s an obvious situation. “President B said,” Real employee wages decline, and if companies scoff at facilities with large investments, depreciation increases and manufacturing costs inevitably rise. “We need to insure more.” added.

The increased labor shortage caused by the 52-hour-week system is the biggest challenge for the SME industry. Earlier, on the 16th, the Korean Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises surveyed 500 small and medium enterprises, and about 40% answered that they were not ready for a 52-hour week. The reason for this was “cost burden on hiring (52.3%, duplicate response)”, and “hiring difficulties (38.5%)” and “deterioration in management due to Corona 19 (28.7% ) “.

A shipyard in Gyeongnam, closed due to lack of work. News 1

The 52-hour-per-week system will be expanded to companies with fewer than 50 employees in July next year. The government had a ‘one-year orientation period’ for workplaces with 50 to 299 employees this year, but plans to immediately implement a 52-hour weekly system with no orientation period for fewer than 50 employees. In this regard, the CEO of an auto parts company C with fewer than 50 employees said, “If a worker who works overtime and overtime and receives around 3 million won per month is expected to be 2.2 million won a month. 2.3 million won a week, “he said,” Worraval is good, “who would be happy to see the salary drop. In the end, both the company and the workers do not want to, “he said.

The CEO of Company D, which supplies spare parts for agricultural machinery, said: “If the 52-hour-per-week system is implemented in a situation where you cannot hire labor, there will be a situation where you will have to return between 20 and 30% of the order received “. The “one-year orientation period” needs to be applied for companies under 1 year. If we give a year or so, we will take measures through investments such as automation, “he said.

The small and medium-sized business community expressed concern over the government’s announcement of the day. The Korean Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises said through a comment: “There was no room to prepare in an unprecedented difficult management situation with Corona 19. In this reality, the end of the orientation period will increase the confusion and anxiety of the pymes”. The FKI also said in a statement of the day that “the 52-hour-a-week system will make it difficult for SMEs to work overtime, which will place a considerable burden on labor costs.” Different.”

Reporter Kim Young-joo [email protected]