"Lunch and Commute Time Also Counted as Working Hours"… Saerounseontaek Proposes Radical Work Hour Reform

Saeroun Seontaek proposed a plan to improve the working environment for office workers by making lunchtime paid and reducing working hours, as well as accumulating annual leave when changing jobs. However, they left open the possibility of discussing the reorganization of the unit period for extended working hours, provided that the reduction of working hours and protection of health rights for office workers are ensured.

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On the 19th, Cho Seong-ju, co-representative of Saeroun Seontaek, revealed a working hours reform plan called the "Liberation Diary Act for Office Workers." First, Saeroun Seontaek promised to promote paid lunchtime. Co-representative Cho said, "Currently, the Labor Standards Act requires a 30-minute break every 4 hours, and typically the one-hour lunch break is considered a statutory rest period," adding, "It is unreasonable to regard lunchtime, during which workers must stay near the workplace and cannot completely escape the supervision of their superiors, as a full rest period." Regarding this, he stated, "We aim to make break times paid under the Labor Standards Act and bring forward the end of the workday by one hour."

In addition, they proposed including commuting time as working hours. Co-representative Cho said, "For the included working hours, additional wages will be provided as transportation expenses or accumulated in a working hours savings account to be used as leave or to allow flexible commuting hours."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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They also proposed changing the annual leave system, which currently resets upon changing jobs, to an individual accumulation system. He said, "Unless one is a long-term employee at a large company or a regular public sector worker, annual leave resets every time one changes jobs, causing discrimination in leave," and added, "Saeroun Seontaek proposes that annual leave be accumulated on an individual basis rather than by workplace." He continued, "Even if one changes jobs, the annual leave corresponding to the period worked will remain." Additionally, they also encouraged the introduction of a four-day workweek once a month.

Saeroun Seontaek left open the possibility of discussing the reorganization of the unit period for extended working hours, based on the premise of reducing working hours. Co-representative Cho said, "If actual working hours are reduced and protective measures for workers' health rights are established, we can consider discussing the government's proposed reorganization of the unit period for extended working hours," adding, "Health protection measures should include the European Union (EU) style of 11 consecutive hours of rest between working days, uninterrupted 24-hour rest once a week, and setting the maximum weekly working hours below the standards for chronic fatigue industrial accidents."

Meanwhile, regarding the groundbreaking working hours reform pledge that is neither progressive nor conservative, Co-representative Cho promised, "We will shift the focus of discussions on working hours systems from the traditional conservative and progressive debates on extending or reducing statutory working hours to work-life balance," and added, "We will establish office workers' time sovereignty through appropriate rest and help write the liberation diary of office workers who create time for themselves."

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