Labor groups demand a minimum wage of 12,000 won next year, reigniting calls to protect platform workers in delivery and logistics

Labor groups demanded a minimum hourly wage of 12,000 won for next year. That is 1,680 won, or 16.3%, higher than this year's minimum wage of 10,320 won. Attention is also turning to whether the business community will counter with a demand to freeze next year's minimum wage.
Labor groups plan to pressure the government and political circles to revise laws and regulations, including abolishing the reduced minimum wage application for trainees and workers with disabilities and extending minimum wage coverage to special-type workers, platform workers and freelancers. On the 15th, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and unveiled their labor and civic groups' proposal for the 2027 minimum wage.
The two major umbrella unions set their initial demand for the 2027 minimum wage at 12,000 won. Based on 209 working hours a month, that comes to 2,508,000 won.
Labor groups argue that minimum wage increases over the past three to four years have fallen short of the rise in real inflation indicators, or the combined rate of economic growth and inflation. They also cited the recent tilt toward capital-driven asset accumulation, including in the stock market, and disputes over performance-based bonuses as evidence that the value of labor is being undermined, making a large increase necessary.
Ryu Gi-seop, secretary general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said, "A sharp increase in the minimum wage is a practical measure to address polarization, even more so because it is difficult to narrow the wage gap through labor income alone." Lee Mi-seon, vice chair of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, also stressed, "This amount, 12,000 won, is the minimum cost of survival for low-wage workers to make it through an era of high prices."
They also called on the government and political circles to improve laws and institutions. They argued that the Minimum Wage Act should abolish industry-specific application and the provisions that allow reduced or excluded minimum wage coverage for trainees and workers with disabilities. As for minimum wage coverage for subcontracted workers, including special-type workers, platform workers and freelancers, which failed to take effect next year, they said the government and political circles need to come up with countermeasures, along with revisions to the Labor Standards Act.
They rejected the business community's claim that higher minimum wages are passed on to small business owners and the self-employed as added hardship. Labor groups said the issue of raising the minimum wage and easing the difficulties of the self-employed should be treated separately, and that support measures for self-employed workers should be pursued alongside minimum wage talks.
As solutions to the difficulties facing self-employed business owners, labor groups proposed reintroducing the job stabilization subsidy, lowering various fees including platform commissions, and revising the Act on the Fair Transactions in Subcontracting and the Act on the Promotion of Mutually Beneficial Cooperation between Large Enterprises and Small and Medium Enterprises.
The Minimum Wage Commission plans to hold its sixth plenary meeting on the 16th to review whether next year's minimum wage should be applied differently by industry. Inside and outside the business community, many expect full-scale discussions on next year's minimum wage increase to begin at the end of June.
jhyuk@fnnews.com Kim Jun-hyeok Reporter