Minimum wage for gig workers? KCTU launches sit-in as panel takes up piecework pay rules

As South Korea's Minimum Wage Commission held its first-ever discussion Thursday on extending minimum wage protections to piecework and platform workers, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions launched a sit-in outside the Ministry of Employment and Labor at the Government Sejong Complex to intensify pressure on the panel.

The KCTU held a press conference outside the ministry that day, demanding that "minimum wage be guaranteed for 8.7 million special-employment and platform workers," and vowed to maintain the sit-in until the commission concludes its deliberations.

"We are launching a sit-in struggle before the Minimum Wage Commission for the aspirations of 8.7 million workers who have waited 40 years," the KCTU said. It added that the piecework minimum wage regime must be made substantive and that fair remuneration for special-employment and platform workers must be secured.

KCTU Chairman Yang Gyeong-su said 8.7 million people "are living without being recognized as workers, without even being called workers." He welcomed the fact that the Ministry of Employment and Labor had, for the first time this year, asked the commission to take up the issue after years of effort, but warned that discussion alone would not be enough.

"We will absolutely win minimum wage coverage for special-employment and platform workers this year," he said. He stressed that the discussions must serve as a starting point for redefining the concept of a worker under the Labor Standards Act and securing recognition of worker status.

Delivery riders, designated-driver service operators and private tutors working under special-employment and platform arrangements also attended the press conference to describe conditions on the ground.

Lee Chang-bae, chairman of the National Designated Driver Workers' Union, said waiting time and travel time are part of the job and asked why workers are not compensated for them. He cited survey findings showing that designated drivers, delivery riders and private tutors earn roughly half the minimum hourly wage.

Ku Gyo-hyeon, branch chief of the Rider Union under the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union, said delivery platforms are generating strong profits while workers suffer under delivery rates that change in real time. "The same distance can be priced at 3,000 won ($2.20) today and 2,000 won ($1.45) tomorrow — there is no way to know the standard," he said.

The sit-in was timed to coincide with the commission's third plenary session Thursday, at which extending minimum wage coverage to piecework employees was a main agenda item. The Minimum Wage Act provides a legal basis for applying the minimum wage to piecework workers, but the regime has been inoperative in effect because no concrete calculation method has been established.

Earlier, Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said at a May 27 press briefing that it was the ministry's position that standards for piecework workers needed to be set. "We have entered an era of a 10,000-won minimum wage — now the commission must become a commission for everyone," he said.

Labor groups argue that standards must be established to guarantee at least minimum-wage-level pay for special-employment and platform workers, including delivery riders, courier drivers, designated drivers and private tutors. Business groups counter that uniform application is not realistic given the difficulty of calculating working hours and the wide variety of business models involved.

At the third plenary session, held Thursday afternoon at the Government Sejong Complex, the commission was set to examine government survey data on piecework workers and begin substantive deliberations on the issue.