Minimum wage for apartment guards delayed for 3 years

Minimum wage for apartment guards has been postponed for three years. The government claims the delay was inevitable to avoid layoffs, but unions are angry over the decision.

The Employment and Labor Ministry said Monday that it will postpone full implementation of minimum wage for workers related to supervision that requires them to earn at least 80 percent of minimum wage (4,110 won or 3.66 U.S. dollars per hour) from next year to 2015. From next year to 2014, the guards will be entitled to more than 90 percent of the minimum wage of each year.

Workers related to supervision can be divided into supervisory workers who perform relatively less physical labor such as security guards and goods supervisors, and short-term workers who spend a lot of time waiting such as engineers for boilers and apartment electrical systems.

Korea has 330,000 workers related to supervision across the country, of whom 220,000 are guards at apartment complexes with more than 150 units.

Just two sorts of workers are paid below the minimum wage in Korea: workers related to supervision and interns who can earn under minimum wage for only three months. Supervision-related staff are practically the only workers who are paid below minimum wage.

The government allowed the wage scale for these workers out of fear of massive layoffs.

Unions expressed an immediate backlash. “The decision was made without collecting public opinion,” said the Federation of Korean Trade Unions in a commentary, adding, “The government broke the social agreement of the minimum wage.”

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions also said, “The Labor Ministry’s decision is a classic example of the logic of power, which is that if you don’t want to get fired, you have to accept what you are paid.”

jmpark@donga.com