Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Min-gyu withdrew a bill to revise the Labor Standards Act that would allow part of workers' wages, such as bonuses, to be paid in "local currency." He changed course three days after introducing the bill as labor groups pushed back.
An aide in Park Min-gyu's office said on the 10th, "We withdrew the 'Labor Standards Act revision bill' that was introduced on the 7th."
Under the current Labor Standards Act, wages must be paid in full directly to the worker in currency. However, if there are special provisions in laws or in a collective agreement, a portion may be deducted or paid in a form other than currency.
The bill Park withdrew would have allowed wages to be paid in something other than currency if agreed in an employment contract, which must be executed regardless of the size of business sites as well as through collective agreements. It also specified "local love gift certificates (local currency)" as among those "other than currency."
As Park's side introduced the bill, it said, "Corporate profit generation and bonuses could spread beyond company walls to the local community."
But labor groups objected after the bill was introduced. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) issued a statement the previous day, saying, "It should be withdrawn because it undermines the principle of paying wages in currency and erodes real wages," and added, "If this bill actually operates, its targets are highly likely to be workers at small and medium-sized business sites and nonregular workers, who have weak bargaining power and find it difficult to exercise choice."
The Samsung Electronics chapter of the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union, the largest union at Samsung Electronics, also objected, saying, "If you are convinced that local love gift certificates are no different from currency, we hope you apply this experimental attempt to the salaries of the lawmakers who put their names on the bill, rather than to workers' wages."