The Justice Innovation Party criticized Lee So-young, the Minister of SMEs and Startups from the Democratic Party, on October 10 for suggesting that there needs to be 'consideration' for differentiated application of the minimum wage by industry, calling her remarks 'regressive.'
The Innovation Party's Labor Committee stated in a commentary that 'for the Minister of the relevant department to bring up an issue that was rejected by a legal review body through social consensus during a recent National Assembly audit is an irresponsible idea that undermines the fundamental purpose of the minimum wage system and encourages a regression in labor rights.'
Earlier, the Minimum Wage Commission voted on June 6 regarding whether to apply different minimum wages by industry for the following year, but the proposal was rejected with 14 votes against, 11 in favor, and 1 invalid vote.
The Labor Committee warned that 'differentiating the minimum wage will ultimately institutionalize discrimination among workers and entrench low wages,' adding that it would lead to the creation of low-quality jobs and impose significant disadvantages and discrimination on vulnerable groups, particularly women and young workers.
They further stated, 'The idea of solving problems by merely cutting the wages of workers at the lowest level, while ignoring legitimate structural improvement measures, is merely a tactic to incite conflict between workers and small business owners.' They urged the Lee Jae-myung administration and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to immediately abandon any lingering thoughts about the already rejected differentiated minimum wage application.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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