Business Community Embrace Government Bill on the Five-Day Workweek

Economic organizations which have been opposed to the government bill on implementation of the five-day workweek such as the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and Korea Employers Federation (KEF) have changed their official stance toward adopting the government bill.

"Considering the economic situation of Korea, we can not hospitably welcome the government plan on the five-day workweek, yet we recognize it inevitable," FKI vice chairman Hyun Myeong-Gwan told reporters yesterday. "However, the decision should be made soon, even if it has to be the government bill, in order to prevent further unstablization of the management environment "

When asked "Has the FKI changed its stance?" he acknowledged business community change its official stance toward adopting the five-day workweek saying, "you could say so."

KEF also made a similar statement yesterday, expressing a desire for the bill to be legislated soon.

"The five-day workweek has been the cause of the labor-management disputes. Related acts should be quickly legislated in order to reduce the conflict between the labor-management," the KEF said.

The turnaround by the FKI and KEF was prompted by a recent agreement between management and labor in the metal working industry to adopt the five-day workweek.

"As management recently started to adopt labor`s excessive demands, the business community has rather chosen an alternative, passing the bill which has been pending at the National Assembly than recent labor-management disputes to continue to worsen," an official who demanded anonymity said.

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com