Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 27th that an emergency forum will be held to explore the "possibility of a Korea-style social solidarity wage" to find ways to socially redistribute large corporations' excess profits.
The Minister said at a tea meeting with the press corps marking the first anniversary of the Lee Jae-myung administration at the Government Sejong Complex that "today's (Samsung Electronics' 2026 wage negotiations) tentative agreement results have come out, so we need to continue follow-up discussions (socially)," adding the above. The forum is scheduled for July 1, with labor groups and corporations' officials set to attend.
Explaining the reason for convening the emergency forum, the Minister said, "Samsung Electronics' success today is the result of the dedicated efforts of labor and management combined with support from the state and local communities," adding, "If social support combined to produce the (results), and if we agree that redistribution should also be social, then the solution is social dialogue." Responding to criticism that a regular-worker-centered labor movement is spreading, the Minister said, "The (way to resolve such issues) can only be social dialogue."
On this day, the joint bargaining unit of the Samsung Electronics labor union announced that the tentative agreement passed with a 73.7% approval rate (46,142 voters). The Minister said it was "a wise decision by the union members." The Minister added, "It must not have been easy (to pass) because the gaps in performance bonuses between institutional sectors and so on are too large, so this is fortunate."
The Minister said, "Industrial accident deaths in the first quarter fell 17.5% from a year earlier, and unpaid wages decreased 7.7%." The Minister added, "No one should die or be injured, or be denied pay, at the workplace they go to in order to make a living," and "This is the foundation of employment and labor administration."
The Minister added, "Many legislative tasks remain, including the worker presumption system, extending the retirement age, and the basic workplace act," and "We will meet (with labor, the National Assembly, and others), persuade, and push ahead." The worker presumption system deems a person a worker if they provide labor for another person's business and applies the social safety net, including the four major insurances. The basic workplace act contains provisions to universally guarantee the rights of all workers, including specially employed workers.