As the People Power Party officially declared the introduction of a '4.5-day workweek' as its first pledge for the presidential election, some of the prominent presidential candidates have expressed differing opinions, stating that it should be left to the autonomy of corporations, raising concerns about its feasibility.
The 4.5-day workweek involves working an extra hour each day from Monday to Thursday and only 4 hours on Fridays, preserving the weekly 40 hours while allowing flexible adjustments of hours by workday.
The party leadership emphasized that 'there will be no changes in salary since total working hours will not be reduced' and described it as 'a practical alternative for real work-life balance.' This is a counter to the '4-day workweek' proposed by Lee Jae-myung, a leading candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea.
However, the so-called leading candidates of the People Power Party, including Kim Moon-soo, Han Dong-hoon, and Hong Joon-pyo, have all shown critical or cautious stances toward this proposal.
According to reports from ChosunBiz on the 17th, Lee Byung-tae, a professor at KAIST and head of the policy department of Hong's campaign, met with reporters the previous day at a campaign office in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, and stated, 'Our camp does not particularly agree with such an approach (by the party),' adding, 'It is fundamentally better for corporations and workers to agree on working conditions.'
Kim also expressed agreement on the 15th, after hearing concerns from corporations regarding the introduction of the 4.5-day workweek at the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) in Mapo, Seoul, stating, 'I sympathized with the remark that laws regulating all corporations uniformly do not fit reality.'
He added, 'In fields such as research and development, there are times when you need to concentrate to achieve the best results and times when you need to rest. To stay ahead in global competition, corporations need to be given autonomy.' This suggests that the introduction of the 4.5-day workweek cannot be enforced.
Within Han Dong-hoon's camp, negative sentiments toward the introduction of the 4.5-day workweek are also emerging. An anonymous camp official stated, 'Fundamentally, the characteristics differ by industry or corporate sector, so I wonder what the meaning of implementing a 4.5-day workweek is if it is not about reducing total working hours.'
In the political arena leading up to the June 3 early presidential election, while the Democratic Party has seized the policy agenda around the prominent candidate Lee Jae-myung, the People Power Party only began narrowing down its eight candidates on the 17th, which is interpreted as the background for presenting an unripe pledge while engaging in a 'competition of candidates.'
The People Power Party plans to announce its final candidate on May 3, one month before the election, but there remains uncertainty as a 'anti-Lee Jae-myung' coalition is emerging to prevent this candidate from taking the lead. It is suggested that candidates elected in the People Power Party primaries and figures outside the party, like Han Duck-soo, the acting president, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party, and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, could consider unifying under one tent.
A source familiar with the party circumstances noted, 'In a situation where candidates are proliferating, it seems that coordination among the Yeouido Institute for Policy Development, the party, and the candidates is not going well,' and indicated that discrepancies like those over the 4.5-day workweek pledge could be confirmed in future proposals as well.