5-day workweek begins amid labor worries.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Kim Sung-mi, Yoo Soh-jung and Kim Min-hee The nation's shift to a five-day workweek begins today but most of the 1.8 million workers that it initially affects still are waiting for details.

Only 51.5 percent of public or government-affiliated companies have completed their management-labor negotiations to arrange holidays and wages in line with the new 40-hour scheme.

The rate falls to 20 percent among private companies, according government figures. The main issues involve holidays, overtime pay and menstrual leave.

Companies want to cut the number of paid holidays but workers are loath to make concessions. According to new laws accompanying the workweek, one-day-a-month paid menstrual leave for woman workers is recommended and the overtime pay is to be paid at 1.25 times the basic hourly rate from the current 1.5 times, at least for the coming three years.

Trade unions insist that the new labor standard law stipulates minimum protection of a work environment so that current benefits such as menstrual paid leave for female workers and high overtime remuneration can be maintained. The new scheduling installs a five-day, 40-hour workweek in six stages from this year to 2011. The half-day Saturday work day is abolished. Financial and state-run companies and large firms with more than 1,000 employees are required to implement the shortened workweek this month; corporations with more than 300 workers by July 2005; those with more than 100 by July 2006; those with over 50 by July 2007; those with over 20 by July 2008; those with fewer than by 20 July 2011. Individual workplaces may implement the shortened workweek early. Under law, all workers, from the second year of employment, are entitled to 15 days of annual vacation, apart from paid holidays. Workers will be given one additional paid holiday for every two years of continuous employment up to a maximum of 25 days. More than 90 percent of salaried workers are employed at small firms with less than 300 employees on their payrolls, according data by the state-financed Human Resources Development Service of Korea. As many workers anticipate a more leisurely lifestyle with the five- day workweek, the travel, clothing and retail industries expect a sales boom.

With their weekends free, many people are expected to take a two or three-day trips. Travel agencies expect individuals will seek a travel experience tailored to their own taste and at a more relaxed pace. To this end, cultural programs, village tours, eco tours, sports and health-related activities will grow in demand. Overall, the travel industry expects 420 million trips around the country this year, compared with 315 million in 2002. Increasing at an annual rate of 7.1 percent, the figure is forecast to reach 437 million by 2007.