Raising minimum wage, job security at top of labor agenda

By Lee Kyung-min

The Moon Jae-in administration plans to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.80) per hour from the current 6,470 won by 2020 and reduce the number of irregular workers, as part of his labor policies to increase job security and protect workers.

The government plans to establish a standing legal body that will represent non-unionized workers, who have paid employment insurance for over a certain period, to prevent unlawful actions by employers.

The organization is to become the counterpart of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the body representing employers.

It will ensure employers follow International Labor Organization (ILO) guidelines on labor standards, social protection and fair employment opportunities.

The body will help guarantee the right to organize unions and collective bargaining as stipulated in the 1949 convention of the U.N. agency. The workers will have the right not to be discriminated against based on union activities. The government will also encourage workers to form unions.

The plans come amid the latest statistics which shows only 10 percent of the country’s workers are unionized, with the remaining 90 percent vulnerable to employers’ unilateral measures.

The government will seek to achieve equal pay for equal work between regular workers and irregular or temporary workers.

The government will give financial benefits to firms that promote irregular and temporary workers to regular posts.

Employers will be recommended to guarantee irregular workers the same employee benefits as regular workers including extra pay, bonuses, severance pay and employment insurance.

The government will punish employers and those involved in covering up industrial accidents. Employers will be required to disclose chemical ingredients factory workers come into contact with at work.

Employers will be required to hire new young jobseekers in proportion to the number of executives in the firm.

Public institutions, in which this practice is mandated, will increase the proportion of young hires from the current three percent of the total to five. The government will give financial incentives to employers that follow this guideline and fine those that violate it.

The government will increase the number of members on the fair employment practice and minimum wage committees to increase monitoring of employer violations.

The government will pay unpaid workers first and file a suit later to recover the taxpayers’ money from the employers that failed to pay the wages on time.

Employers will be banned from giving “irrationally unachievable” orders such as “delivery within 30 minutes upon order rule,” in which part-time delivery workers are laid off if a customer gets food delivered more than 30 minutes from the order.

The policy reflects public outcry against the death of a teenager who died in 2011 after being hit by a bus while delivering food on a motorcycle to meet a deadline.