As part of plans to promote green industries, the government will soon introduce DST, which has been adopted by 27 of the 30 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Only South Korea, Japan and Iceland have yet to put DST in motion.
The measure is expected to draw a fierce backlash from unions, which have argued employers might abuse it to force employees to work longer. Union activists claim that it is still premature to launch DST because South Koreans work the longest hours in the world even though the country enforces a 40-hour workweek.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Daylight saving time coming to Korea.
From the Korea Times, which says President Lee Myung-bak plans to introduce daylight saving time "to save energy and improve quality of life":
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4 comments:
I guess LMB hasn't heard of a recent US study which showed that daylight saving time actually costs more money because savings on lighting are more than offset by increased costs in heating and cooling.
It wouldn't be the first time DST has been introduced in Korea. Not a lot of people liked it the last time. I'm not sure how they plan to pretty up the concept this time around.
BTW, if Korea ENFORCES (their word) a 40-hour work week then it shouldn't be possible to work the longest hours (unless of course everyone else works less than 40). The problem is that the 40-hour work week is NOT enforced. Hell, they don't even enforce the 5-day work week or the law-provided vacation days.
It's as if LMB doesn't care about the environment:
"You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century. ...
This should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving Time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate."
http://tinyurl.com/55vtj4
This has got to be the best editorial ever!
How can employers abuse DST? Also, my friends who've worked in Korean companies claimed there was a lot of time at work, but not a lot of time working.
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