Single Proposal by Public Interest Committee 5% Higher Than This Year
Vote Held Amid Walkout by KCTU and Business Sector
With the public interest committee proposing a minimum wage of 9,620 won for next year, on the afternoon of the 29th, Ryu Ki-jung, an employer committee member and executive director of the Korea Employers Federation, refused to vote and left the meeting room of the Minimum Wage Commission at the Government Complex Sejong in Sejong City. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Ahead of the vote to decide next year's minimum wage, some worker representatives and all employer representatives protested the public interest commissioners' unified proposal and walked out.
The Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) held its 8th plenary meeting on the 29th at the Government Sejong Complex to discuss the decision on next year's minimum wage.
On this day, the public interest commissioners proposed a unified plan of 9,620 won, which is 460 won (5.0%) higher than this year's minimum wage (9,160 won). It is known that this 5.0% increase rate was calculated by adding the economic growth rate of 2.7% and the inflation rate of 4.5%, then subtracting the employment growth rate of 2.2%.
Regarding this unified proposal, four worker representatives affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and all nine employer representatives refused to vote and left the meeting room.
The MWC consists of 27 members: nine worker representatives, nine employer representatives, and nine public interest commissioners. Because of the significant differences between labor and management positions, the public interest commissioners usually hold the 'casting vote.'
All nine employer representatives left immediately after the vote was announced, so they were counted in the quorum but treated as abstentions.
Park Hee-eun, Vice Chairperson of the KCTU, said right after leaving, "The proposal presented by the public interest commissioners is effectively below the inflation rate," and pointed out, "Ultimately, this means wages will not increase but rather freeze, leading to a real wage reduction."
Vice Chairperson Park emphasized, "The KCTU will continue to fight for the stable conditions of low-wage workers and the resolution of inequality, and furthermore, will escalate the struggle against labor reforms."
Ryu Ki-jung, Executive Director of the Korea Employers Federation and an employer representative, said, "Small and micro enterprises and small business owners have reached their limits, so we have considerable dissatisfaction about whether the 5% increase proposal can really be accepted," adding, "We ultimately did not participate in the vote and left."
Accordingly, the vote on next year's minimum wage is expected to proceed soon with the remaining five worker representatives affiliated with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), nine public interest commissioners, and the nine abstaining employer representatives forming the quorum for the decision.
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