Work-life balance over exports... LUDA's Samyang Foods factory abolishes special overtime work (South Korea)

Samyang Foods, which has been embroiled in a controversy over its long nighttime work hours for production staff in order to meet export volume, has decided to improve its working environment.
According to an investigation by Yonhap News on the 4th, Samyang Foods has two factories in Miryang and two in Wonju and Iksan.
A Samyang Foods official said, "We initially expected that we would be able to produce the export volume without special overtime work from the end of the year when the factory lines would be operating normally, but
"We have decided not to implement special extended work hours from the 9th due to the rapid increase in the operating rate of the automation line," he explained.
Due to changes in the work environment that emphasize balance, Samyang Foods plans to consider improving its current two-shift system with day and night shifts.
A Samyang Foods official said, "Due to salary issues, employees are requesting day and night shifts.
We are aware that there are also people who are working overtime. We will collect the opinions of all employees and improve the current working method,” he added.
After receiving consent forms, the company has implemented a two-shift system, with working hours increasing from 49 hours and 30 minutes to a maximum of 58 hours per week, including special extended working hours.
In particular, special extended work is added on Saturdays two to three times a month. With this double shift and special extended work, night shift workers work five to six days a week.
In response, Samyang Foods said, "In July 2018, a 52-hour work week was introduced for workplaces with more than 300 employees, and Samyang Foods also implemented a 52-hour work week for its production factory workers.
"However, because special overtime work is a separate concept from the 52-hour work week, even if an employee works special overtime work, it cannot be considered a violation of the 52-hour work week rule," he explained.
Samyang Foods' exports have increased over the past 10 years, from 30 billion won (approximately 3.199 billion yen) in 2015 to 1.3359 trillion won (approximately 142.4537 billion yen) last year.
The second factory in Miryang was completed on June 11th and has a total floor area of 34,576 square meters, with six production lines capable of producing 830 million ramen pieces per year.
Together with the other factories, the annual production volume is 1.58 billion units, which is half of Samyang Foods' annual export volume.