By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter
Labor and management failed to produce an agreement on the base rate for next year's minimum wage, even after two days of talks that ran until dawn on Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Labor and the Minimum Wage Council, labor suggested 4,850 won in the latest amendment, while employers proposed 4,150 won.
An initial demand by labor was a wage rise of 26 percent to 5,180 won from this year's base pay of 4,110 won, but management is sticking to a 1 percent increase to 4,150.
The 27 member council - nine each from the labor, management and neutral public sides - was supposed to produce a deal by the June 29 deadline. However, the two sides have agreed to hold another negotiation session on July 2.
If they fail to reach an agreement again, the minimum wage will be decided on by a vote on the neutral member's compromise proposal. In 2007 and 2008, labor and management made agreements, but it was put to a vote last year.
Labor claims that minimum wage growth has been falling short of the increase in consumer prices, resulting in a fall in inflation-adjusted income.
"The minimum wage is the lifeline of low-wage workers and management's proposal is almost the same as freezing the wage," said an official of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). "There are many laborers who get paid less than the minimum amount and freezing the base payment will make their life even harder."
Park Min-ji, 22, works part time at a convenience store in Gyeonggi Province. "I am paid 4,000 won an hour. I know the minimum wage is 4,110 won per hour, but I can't complain as I knew it was below the minimum when I started the job."
She considers herself lucky as other young adults working in convenience stores in provincial areas are paid even less than her. "I heard some owners pay only 3,000 won per hour. I guess I am more fortunate than them," Park said.
The Youth Union recently surveyed 444 part-timers at 423 convenience stores across the nation and found out that 66 percent of them were paid less than the minimum wage.
However, small business owners claim that the minimum wage should be maintained at this year's level.
The Korea Federation of Retailer Organization (KFRO) said small retailers and other mom-and-pop businesses cannot afford to raise the minimum wage amid the sluggish economy.
"Most small business owners are still struggling to make ends meet," a KFRO official said. "Raising the base wage without consideration of the financial situation of small business owners would make them lawbreakers as they cannot practically observe the legal minimum wage."