2024-07-05 11:43:21
The ambassador’s side protested the obstruction of voting and did not attend yesterday’s meeting.
Criticism from within the labor union that “there are some excessive aspects”
Labor and management’s first demands to be released on the 9th
The Minimum Wage Committee (MWC), which decides next year’s minimum wage, is experiencing delays due to unprecedented physical force incidents such as grabbing the gavel and destroying ballots. There are concerns that this could be the longest deliberation in history, as the initial demands of labor and management have not been presented even though the legal deadline was the 27th of last month.
The 8th plenary session of the Minimum Wage Commission held at the Sejong Government Complex on the afternoon of the 4th was held as a ‘half-meeting’ with only worker representatives and public interest representatives participating, without any user representatives. The user representatives declared their boycott on the 2nd, claiming that worker representatives recommended by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) used physical force to obstruct the vote during the voting process for differential application of minimum wage by industry. They took issue with the fact that when then Minimum Wage Commission Chairman Lee In-jae tried to put the differential application of minimum wage to a vote, worker representatives recommended by the KCTU tried to stop him by snatching his gavel and tearing up the ballot papers.
This behavior by the workers’ representatives is known to be unprecedented. A labor official who has been watching the committee for a long time criticized, “There have been protests by leaving the meeting en masse or fights with loud voices, but this is the first time something like this has happened,” and “We should not try to solve the problem this way.”
There were also concerns among the workers’ representatives. Ryu Ki-seop, secretary general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, a workers’ representative, said in his opening remarks at the meeting that day, “I understand the desperation to block the vote, but it seems excessive. As a member of the steering committee, I express regret.” Kwon Soon-won, a public interest member, warned, “This is unacceptable violence,” and “If a similar incident occurs again, we will request all possible means.” Lee Mi-sun, vice chairwoman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who took the gavel during the physical force as the workers’ representative, took a step back, saying, “I regret what happened.”
Ultimately, the industry-specific differential application was rejected after a vote, but the plenary session was disrupted by the use of physical force, delaying the minimum wage deliberation compared to previous years. The first demands of labor and management for next year’s minimum wage will be disclosed at the 9th meeting on the 9th of this month. Last year, when the minimum wage was decided on July 19 and set a record for the longest deliberation, labor and management first presented their demands on June 22 and June 27, respectively, which is about two weeks later than that time.
Even if the meeting is normalized from the 9th, there is speculation that the record for the longest deliberation in history could be broken as the gap between the initial demands of both labor and management is expected to be very large. The Minister of Employment and Labor must announce the minimum wage for the following year by August 5th every year, but considering procedures such as filing of objections, the deliberation must be completed by mid-July at the latest.
Reporter Joo Ae-jin [email protected]
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2024-07-05 11:43:21