Samsung Electronics employees walk inside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in this undated photo. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

Chipmakers here are unsatisfied with the government's plan to grant them up to six months of a special exemption from the nation's 52-hour workweek law, up from the current three-month exemption.

The country's chipmakers are still advocating for legislation that would create a special exemption, allowing semiconductor researchers to be excluded from the 52-hour workweek law for up to three years. They argue that this exemption is necessary to boost the competitiveness of the nation's chip industry. However, the proposal has been rejected by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which sided with labor unions in opposing any attempt to extend work hours.

The government announced on Wednesday a plan that would allow chipmakers to have their researchers work up to 64 hours a week during the first three months and up to 60 hours a week during the following three months, provided the companies obtain approval for the extended work hours from the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

Employee buy-in, as well as medical checkups during the six-month period, are required to secure government approval for the extended work hours.

If chipmakers choose to a government review of their work after the first three months, they will be allowed to have their researchers work up to 64 hours a week during the following three months.

The new measure is likely to take effect as early as next week.

"For Korea to outpace its rivals in the fierce competition in the semiconductor industry, it is necessary to allow researchers to work more flexibly," acting President Choi Sang-mok said during a regular meeting of economy-related ministers.

The measure reflects the industry's complaint that the three-month exemption is too short, while a bill for a special chips act, which would provide a three-year exemption, remains pending in the National Assembly due to the failure of the ruling and opposition parties to reach an agreement.

Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun, center, and Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, second from right, applaud during their meeting with semiconductor industry officials at Dongjin Semichem's R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap

Ostensibly, the semiconductor industry and business associations welcomed the new measure.

However, they did not regard it as a fundamental solution to the recent trend of Korean companies falling behind their Chinese competitors in terms of semiconductor research and development.

"We call for the National Assembly's immediate passage of the special chips act allowing flexible work hours, in order to improve the semiconductor industry's competitiveness fundamentally and enable young researchers to enhance their capabilities," said Lee Jong-myung, head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's industrial innovation division.

The Korea Enterprises Federation urged the government and the Assembly to revise the Labor Standards Act and legislate the special chips act immediately. The Korea Semiconductor Industry Association also hoped for the passage of the legislation through an agreement among rival parties.

The presidential office described the government's latest decision as an emergency measure, not a fundamental solution.

"Basically, the special chips act stating an exemption from the 52-hour rule should be passed at the National Assembly as soon as possible," a senior official of the presidential office said.

In contrast, Korea's two largest umbrella unions denounced the government measure as an attempt to invalidate the 52-hour workweek system, which was introduced under the previous liberal Moon Jae-in administration in 2018 to reduce the country's grueling work hours and guarantee a better work-life balance.

The National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) also urged the government to stop its attempt to exclude semiconductor workers from the Labor Standards Act.

"It is impossible to succeed in development and improve industrial competitiveness by sacrificing workers," the NSEU said in a statement released Tuesday.

The union issued the statement on the day that the industry and labor ministers met semiconductor industry officials to discuss the introduction of extended work hours. The meeting did not include any worker representatives, despite the fact that employers should get their employees' consent to seek a government approval for an exemption from the 52-hour rule.