"Regret Over Public Interest Committee's Biased Decision"
The two major labor unions criticized the decision to set next year's minimum wage at 10,030 won as a "clear real wage cut."
On the 12th, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) stated in an official statement, "Some media outlets are giving undue significance to surpassing 10,000 won, but the 1.7% increase rate is the second lowest ever," adding, "The public interest commissioners claimed they were not one-sided, but this is completely untrue."
They continued, "Until the 4th revised proposal, the gap between labor and management was 9.1% (workers' side 9.9%, management 0.8%), while the review promotion range suggested by the public interest commissioners just before the 5th final revised proposal was 1.4% to 4.4%," explaining, "This range itself was already favorable to the employers."
The FKTU said, "The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) took the position that they could not agree to an increase rate below 4.4%, while the FKTU, with the intention of raising the minimum wage for low-wage workers even slightly, proposed a 2.6% increase, which is even lower than the midpoint of that range, 2.9%, and just matches the expected inflation rate. Nevertheless, the employers proposed a mere 1.7% increase, only 0.3% higher than 1.4%," criticizing, "Yet the majority of public interest commissioners sided with the employers, which can only be seen as mocking the FKTU labor representatives who proposed a reasonable increase within the review promotion range and the low-wage workers."
They added, "In the second half of the year, the FKTU will do its best in legislative activities to apply the minimum wage to platform special employment workers and to completely abolish discriminatory application by industry."
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) also voiced a unified criticism of the biased decision by the public interest commissioners.
The KCTU stated, "The public interest commissioners demanded revised proposals from both sides until a proposal that suited their preferences emerged, and ultimately set the review promotion range based on a baseless calculation formula they created," and declared, "We raise fundamental concerns about the deceptive attitude of the public interest commissioners who fail to uphold the purpose of the minimum wage system and ultimately decide the minimum wage range according to the government's preferences, as well as the current discussion structure of the Minimum Wage Commission that enables such deceptive behavior."
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