Angry Labor Groups "Ignoring Price and Public Utility Rate Increases"

Major Trade Unions "Real Wage Reduction"
Criticism of Minimum Wage Commission's Loss of Fairness

The labor sector immediately reacted against the decision on next year's minimum wage, which fell short of "10,000 won per hour."

The minimum wage for 2024 has been set at 9,860 won. On the morning of the 19th, worker representatives expressed their positions after concluding the meeting. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the 19th, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) issued a statement criticizing it as "the result of trampling on the dreams of low-wage workers and all workers."

The KCTU stated, "The issue of public interest commissioners biased toward the government, the forced dismissal and refusal of reappointment of worker representatives, the 9,800 won remark by a senior government official revealed through the media, and the minimum wage below 10,000 won comment by the chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council confirm the government's intervention," adding, "Due to the government's interference in the Minimum Wage Commission, which values fairness and neutrality, the commission, a tripartite social agreement body, has lost its existence and value."

They continued, "The legally prescribed criteria for determining the minimum wage level were ignored, and it fell far short of the government's announced statistics and the non-married single-person living expenses," adding, "With no consideration given to inflation and scheduled public utility fee hikes, and amid ongoing real wage declines due to the expansion of the wage calculation base, this disregard will accelerate income inequality."

The KCTU also said, "The world's highest level of gender wage gap elimination has become a distant story, and the inclusion of special types of workers and platform workers in the minimum wage system has been postponed again, remaining a prolonged topic of debate," and added, "We condemn the Minimum Wage Commission that produced the worst result and the Yoon Seok-yeol government behind it, and will engage in struggles to strengthen wages, publicness, and welfare for the survival and livelihood of workers and citizens, as well as work on improving the minimum wage system in the second half of the year."

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) also pointed out in a statement that "this year's minimum wage was decided at a level that does not even meet the economic growth rate and inflation rate, effectively resulting in a cut in real wages."

The FKTU said, "We participated in negotiations with the determination to fulfill the purpose of the minimum wage system to stabilize the lives of low-wage workers, but the government's overreach and unfair intervention occurred during the deliberations, undermining the autonomy, independence, and fairness of the Minimum Wage Commission," and strongly criticized, "We have once again confirmed that the Minimum Wage Commission is nothing more than a puppet committee that is neither fair, autonomous, nor independent."

They added, "It is time for the Minimum Wage Commission to make a decisive moment," and "We must deeply consider ways to establish the autonomy, independence, and fairness of the Minimum Wage Commission, which have disappeared due to the annual repeated freezing by employer representatives, claims for differential application by industry, and the government's overreach and unfair intervention."