1. Government focuses on settlement of minimum wage hikes at industrial sites
On 16 January, President Moon Jae-in mentioned at a dinner with owners of small & medium venture enterprises and small businesses that settlement of the minimum wage hike is his government’s top priority at the beginning of this year. At a cabinet meeting on the same day, the President urged each government department to concentrate on follow-up measures to the minimum wage hike, expanding mutually-beneficial cooperation between large companies & SMEs, and restructuring wage systems to those that are performance- or job-based.
The government is seeking through policy to improve the rate of compliance with the new minimum wage, including strengthening sanctions on employers who owe their workers their wages and covering the increase to the minimum wage for employees of firms subcontracted by primary contractors. The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) disclosed a list of employers who owe their workers wages and constricted credit available to them. The MOEL plans to strengthen labor inspections to identify incidence of overdue wages.
The MOEL announced its plans to guide companies to comply with the new minimum wage in 5 vulnerable areas of industry by establishing a taskforce to carry out special inspections for violations. These vulnerable areas are apartment & building management, gas stations, supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants.
2. Government pushes forward with plans to restore the tripartite dialogue to implement government policies such as reducing working hours and enforcing the minimum wage hike.
At a press conference on 10 January, President Moon said that social dialogue should be restored in the interest of implementing its core policies such as reducing working hours and enforcing the minimum wage hike. At a press conference on 11 January, Mr. Sung-hyun Moon, Chairman of the Economic and Social Development Commission (ESDC) proposed a meeting of tripartite representatives on 24 January. Participants at this meeting will include the Minister of Employment and Labor (MOEL), Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation (KEF), Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Chairman of the Economic and Social Development Commission (ESDC), President of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and President of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
Meanwhile, labor is skeptical of participating in social dialogue again through the current Tripartite Commission. The FKTU said it will participate, but will return to the Tripartite Commission only if the revised bill of the Labor Standards Act pending in the National Assembly is rejected. President Myung-hwan Kim of the KCTU acknowledged the necessity of returning to social dialogue, but deferred plans to return to the current Tripartite Commission.