Minimum Wage Commission takes up platform worker coverage amid labor-business divide

The Minimum Wage Commission has launched formal deliberations on whether to extend minimum wage protections to contract and platform workers, including delivery riders, parcel couriers and designated-driver service providers.

Labor representatives argued that the minimum wage system must be expanded to reflect a transformed labor market, while business groups reaffirmed their opposition, insisting that a worker-status determination must come first.

The commission held its third plenary session Thursday at the Government Sejong Complex to debate whether to extend minimum wage coverage to contract workers — the first time the issue has appeared as a formal agenda item in the deliberations over next year's minimum wage.

In his opening remarks, Ryu Ki-seop, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, said the time had come to provide answers on protecting contract workers, including platform and freelance workers. "Expanding minimum wage coverage is the minimum human-rights measure needed to protect low-wage workers in a labor market where traditional employment relationships have broken down," he said.

He urged the commission to respect the spirit of the Ministry of Employment and Labor minister's request for deliberation and said it must produce a workable application plan based on the ministry's research findings.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions also urged the commission to reach a conclusion this year on extending minimum wage coverage to contract and platform workers.

"Guaranteeing the minimum wage for the approximately 8.7 million special-employment and platform workers can no longer be deferred — it is an urgent task of our time," said Lee Mi-sun, vice chairwoman of the confederation. "We must not again tell workers who have been making this demand for more than a decade to keep waiting."

She added that designated drivers, delivery riders and private tutors effectively work under the direction and control of employers yet receive no minimum wage protection. "The Minimum Wage Commission must respond to the reality of a changed labor market," she said.

The confederation's special-employment task force launched a 24-hour tent sit-in outside the Ministry of Employment and Labor at the Government Sejong Complex from Thursday morning, calling for minimum wage coverage to be extended to contract workers. The confederation demanded that a plan to apply the minimum wage to special-employment and platform workers — including delivery workers, designated drivers and private tutors — be drawn up during this year's deliberations.

Business groups pushed back, arguing that the debate over expanding minimum wage coverage lacks both a legal basis and practical feasibility.

Ryu Ki-jung, executive managing director of the Korea Employers Federation, said the minimum wage applies to workers under the Labor Standards Act. "Whether those being discussed even qualify as workers must be determined first, but that is not a matter the Minimum Wage Commission has the authority to decide," he said.

He added that even among contract workers, contract terms, work methods, hours and workload all differ. "Setting a separate minimum wage that accounts for volume of work, distance traveled and time spent is practically almost impossible," he said.

Yang Ok-seok, head of the human resources policy division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, also raised concerns, saying the commission cannot unilaterally decide on coverage when the worker status of contract workers has not even been established. "Forcing the issue would undermine the flexibility of the contract work system and could actually lead to job losses," he said.

Public-interest commissioners called for a cautious approach.

Seong Jae-min, acting president of the Korea Labor Institute and secretary of the public-interest commissioner group, said the contract worker minimum wage issue requires a close look at the wide variety of pay calculation methods, actual working conditions and how the system would operate in practice. "Verifying the facts through evidence is more important than rushing to a conclusion," he said.

Meanwhile, 24 of the commission's 27 registered members attended Thursday's session, satisfying the quorum for a vote. After opening remarks, the meeting moved into closed deliberations at 3:16 p.m. The commission plans to continue discussions on the feasibility and method of applying the minimum wage to contract workers, drawing on the Ministry of Employment and Labor's commissioned research findings and overseas cases.