Minimum wage talks collapse

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions demand 10,000 won for next year's minimum wage during a strike at Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul, Friday, a day after negotiations failed. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Kim Bo-eun

Negotiations for next year’s minimum wage fell through once again, extending the talks beyond the official deadline.

Representatives of management, labor and the government held their sixth committee meeting at the Sejong Government Complex, Thursday.

In the meeting stretching on for eight hours, management proposed a minimum wage of 6,625 won an hour, a 2.4 percent raise from this year’s 6,470 won, while labor insisted on 10,000 won.

Since last year, labor groups have insisted the minimum wage be raised to 10,000 won, as a means to alleviate income inequality. Management, which has for years proposed freezing the minimum wage in talks yielded to a 2.4 percent raise, in what appears as a consideration that the Moon Jae-in administration has pledged to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020.

A key issue of contention is management’s proposal of differentiating the minimum wage for eight sectors: internet cafes, convenience stores, supermarkets, gas stations, hairdressers, restaurants, taxis and concierge positions.

They claim raising the minimum wage poses a burden on small businesses and mom-and-pop stores. Meanwhile, labor representatives maintain there is no point of designating a minimum wage if it is not going to be applied universally.

The issue will be discussed in upcoming meetings next week.

Labor groups held a press conference in front of the Korea Employers Federation building in central Seoul, denouncing management’s proposal, Friday.

“Management proposed a 155 won raise by the deadline. Calling for separate negotiations for eight sectors means they will pay workers in these sectors less than the minimum wage,” the Arbeit Workers Union said.

The nation’s two umbrella unions the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions also condemned management.

“Do they think they are making sense, calling for differentiated wages for sectors, refusing labor’s propositions to discuss the issue with owners of small businesses?” they said in a statement.

The committee will continue its talks next week _ the seventh meeting is scheduled for July 3, and the eighth for July 5.

The minister of employment and labor must announce the minimum wage on Aug. 5 and an agreement needs to be reached 20 days prior to that in order to pass administrative procedures.

This puts the de facto deadline at July 16.

Minimum wage talks have conventionally passed the deadline. Since the minimum wage committee was launched in 1988 up through last year, it only reached an agreement within the deadline eight times.