Employer members affiliated with the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME) who walked out of the 13th plenary session of the Minimum Wage Commission returned to the negotiating table Tuesday. They doubled down on their position that a 2% raise is the absolute limit small business owners can absorb, and said they would not accept any further increase.
KFME employer members Geum Ji-seon and Lee Gi-jae issued a statement outside the Ministry of Employment and Labor press room at Government Complex Sejong on Tuesday, saying they had "decided to return to the 14th plenary session" and pledging to "fulfill our responsibilities to the end to protect the right of small business owners to survive."
The two explained that their walkout during the 13th plenary session — which followed the employer side's proposal of a 2% raise to 10,530 won per hour from the current minimum wage — was "a solemn duty to make the desperate voices of small business owners heard." They also doubled down on their warning that "any additional increase is tantamount to a death sentence for small businesses," calling the 2% raise "the last line that small business owners can endure."
On their decision to return, they said they concluded it was their responsibility as commissioners to deliver the small business community's position directly at the table rather than by staying away. "We judged that going back in and making the voices of small business owners heard — even one word more — and standing our ground was the solemn duty entrusted to us," they said.
The employer members said they would maintain their existing principles after returning. They said any minimum wage increase exceeding 2% would be unacceptable given the business realities facing small enterprises. They also urged public interest commissioners to conduct a sober assessment of small businesses' actual ability to pay and put forward a reasonable mediation proposal, noting that a sector-by-sector differentiated rate had already been ruled out.
"What we are trying to protect is not simply a wage level, but the bare minimum right of small business owners to survive — to protect their jobs, their shops and their families," they said, adding that they would "do their utmost until the very last moment on behalf of small business owners across the country."
At the 13th plenary session held July 9, labor submitted its ninth revised proposal of 11,220 won per hour — an 8.7% increase from this year's 10,320 won — while management proposed 10,530 won, a 2.0% increase. The gap between the two sides narrowed to 690 won. At Tuesday's session, public interest commissioners are expected to put forward a deliberation-facilitation range.
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