The first minimum wage level of the Lee Jae-myung government is expected to be decided on the 10th.
The Minimum Wage Commission held its 12th plenary meeting at the Government Sejong Office starting at 3 p.m. that day.
Professor Kwon Soon-won, the secretary of the public interest committee, noted in the opening remarks of the meeting that "today is the last day for deliberating next year's minimum wage level."
He added, "At the last meeting, labor and management agreed to decide next year's minimum wage by today," and said, "They promised to narrow the gap between their claims by submitting amendments within the deliberation facilitation range."
Earlier, the public interest committee requested labor and management to submit amendments within the range of "10,210 to 10,440 won" to determine next year's minimum wage at the 10th meeting held on the 8th. This amount reflects a 1.8% to 4.1% increase compared to this year's minimum wage of 10,030 won, indicating a deliberation facilitation range. The deliberation facilitation range is established by the public interest committee to set the upper and lower limits if labor and management cannot reach an agreement on the minimum wage increase.
Professor Kwon stated, "The deliberation facilitation range is presented by the public interest committee at the request of labor and management if there is no longer room for agreement, even if efforts for mutual agreement continue among the parties involved," and referred to it as an artificial negotiation facilitation practice where labor and management submit new amendments to seek consensus within this range.
However, the labor sector is opposing the deliberation facilitation range suggested by the public interest committee, arguing that it does not reach the minimum wage increase rates of previous governments in their first year. The minimum wage increase rates for the first year of previous governments are as follows: ▲ Kim Young-sam administration 7.96% ▲ Kim Dae-jung administration 2.7% ▲ Roh Moo-hyun administration 10.3% ▲ Lee Myung-bak administration 6.1% ▲ Park Geun-hye administration 7.2% ▲ Moon Jae-in administration 16.4% ▲ Yoon Suk-yeol administration 5.0%. Among these, the first increase rate of the Kim Dae-jung administration occurred during the IMF financial crisis.
Ryu Gi-seop, the secretary-general of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said, "I believe we have already crossed the point of no return in today's minimum wage deliberation due to the low facilitation range," while Im Mi-sun, vice chair of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, remarked, "The public interest committee's proposal of a low facilitation range of 1.8% to 4.1% will collapse workers' lives like vegetables wilting under the scorching heat on a sidewalk."