Fifth plenary session takes up minimum wage coverage for special-employment and platform workers; labor calls for proactive protection while business cites lack of legal basis; public interest members urge substantive progress beyond repeated positions

Members of the Minimum Wage Commission stand for the national anthem at the fifth plenary session held Thursday at the Government Complex Sejong. The session again took up the question of extending minimum wage coverage to piece-rate workers. From left: Yang Ok-seok, head of the human resources policy division at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business; Ryu Ki-jeong, executive vice president of the Korea Employers Federation; Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions; and Lee Mi-seon, vice chairwoman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. [Yonhap]
Members of the Minimum Wage Commission stand for the national anthem at the fifth plenary session held Thursday at the Government Complex Sejong. The session again took up the question of extending minimum wage coverage to piece-rate workers. From left: Yang Ok-seok, head of the human resources policy division at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business; Ryu Ki-jeong, executive vice president of the Korea Employers Federation; Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions; and Lee Mi-seon, vice chairwoman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. [Yonhap]

Labor and management clashed again Thursday over whether minimum wage protections should extend to special-employment and platform workers — including parcel delivery drivers, food delivery riders and private tutors. A vote appeared unlikely at the session, however, with participants leaning toward further deliberation, raising the prospect that a formal conclusion would be pushed to a future meeting.

The Minimum Wage Commission held its fifth plenary session Thursday at the Government Complex Sejong to debate whether piece-rate workers should fall under minimum wage coverage.

Labor representatives argued the issue could no longer be deferred.

Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said in opening remarks that special-employment and platform workers "differ only in degree of worker status, but are in occupations with very high levels of subordination — both in terms of employment and economic dependence." He said the Minimum Wage Commission exists to set proactive standards based on reality, not merely to render after-the-fact legal judgments. He added that minimum wage rules were failing to reach an estimated 9 million low-wage workers — gig workers, platform workers and freelancers misclassified under a 3.3 percent self-employment tax arrangement — and that a social decision by the commission could correct that distorted reality.

Lee Mi-seon, vice chairwoman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, criticized what she called a formal pretext used to ignore changing times. "Forty years have passed since the Minimum Wage Act was enacted, yet we are still hiding behind the formality that these workers are not employees under the Labor Standards Act," she said. "I want to ask how many more court rulings recognizing worker status need to accumulate before we begin this discussion."

Business representatives, meanwhile, reaffirmed their opposition to expanding coverage, arguing that the current Minimum Wage Act applies only to workers recognized as employees under the Labor Standards Act.

Ryu Ki-jeong, executive vice president of the Korea Employers Federation, said the commission's task was to determine whether a separate minimum wage application was needed within the scope of piece-rate wage earners. He said the labor side's focus on special-employment workers "diverges from the intent of the review request made by the minister of Employment and Labor."

He also questioned the objectivity of a recent government-commissioned research survey on the issue, saying it had been conducted by "a research institution widely seen as pro-labor" on a matter where labor and management are sharply divided. The survey on extending separate minimum wage coverage to piece-rate workers was carried out by the Korea Labor and Society Institute.

Yang Ok-seok, head of the human resources policy division at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, said many small business owners take home little more than 2 million won (about $1,310) a month despite working 16-hour days. He said discussions on sector-based differentiated minimum wage rates should take priority over expanding piece-rate coverage.

Public interest members signaled they favored further discussion over reaching a conclusion Thursday.

Seong Jae-min, acting president of the Korea Labor Institute and secretary of the public interest members, noted that Thursday's session was the third meeting dedicated to the minimum wage question for piece-rate workers. "We have reached a point where we must seek a more responsible direction on matters requiring judgment, building on the accumulated discussions," he said. He added that he hoped the session would move beyond a simple repetition of positions and produce genuine progress.

Observers said a vote at Thursday's session was unlikely, given the wide gap between labor and management and the public interest members' own preference for additional review over an immediate conclusion.

If the commission fails to reach a decision on piece-rate worker coverage, discussions on sector-based differentiated rates and next year's minimum wage level could also be pushed back in sequence. The timeline for labor and management to submit their initial wage proposals for 2027 may also come later than expected.


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