Greece in the deadlock of the Troika’s Austerity Trap

Giorgos Argitis

On 27 November 2012, the Eurogroup reached a new “Greek deal” which once more discloses that there is no political will to address Greece’s debt crisis, as well as the country’s economic and social catastrophe. This fact increasingly makes Greeks think that the sovereign debt crisis incorporates significant geo-economic and geo-political interests at the expense of national sovereignty. Nonetheless, in the pure economic domain, there are two main aspects of the new agreement: first, the Troika’s condition that Greece has to adopt and apply a fiscal correction mechanism to “safeguard the achievement” of irrational and unrealistic fiscal growth and privatisation targets. This mechanism will institutionalise economic austerity and the impoverishment of Greek workers in the private and public sectors, and squeeze to zero the degrees of freedom for national economic policy-making.

The second aspect is the restructuring of creditors’ debt claims as a means for Greece to reduce its financing gap and borrowing needs. This decision, in conjunction with Greece’s public debt tender purchases, is hypothesised to bring Greece’s public debt back on a sustainable path by 2020-2022, which will facilitate the gradual return to market financing. The new agreement between Greece and the Troika is characterised by much fantasy, but little realism. The economic, social, and political environment in Greece remains fluid since uncertainty and lack of credibility continue to surround the course of economic policy-making in Greece and the Eurozone.

The National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labour in Brazil: A useful tool for unions?

Siobhán McGrath

Lisa Carstensen

In 2012 two major clothing retailers, the Spanish group Zara and the Brazilian retailer Marisa, were suspended from membership of the “National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labour.” In both cases, the suspension occurred less than a year after the firms became members in the first place. As members of the Pact, they had pledged to eliminate slave labour from their supply chains. These cases generated a major debate – about forced labour in São Paulo’s clothing industry but also about the Pact itself and, linked to this, about the “Dirty List” of those found to be using slave labour[i].

So how does the Pact work? Is it a model for other countries committed to the fight against forced labour? Is it useful for the trade union movement? What are its limitations? We argue below that the Pact is a powerful tool which has been used to make progress in the ongoing fight against forced labour. Before explaining how we come to this conclusion, however, it is necessary to provide a short overview of the institutional and legal context of the Brazilian struggle against slave labour.

Minimum Wage Legislation and Informal Employment Expansion: The Case of Iran

Karimi Moughari

The International Labour Organization and many labour economists believe ‘labour force’ should not be mentioned as a production input and the income of the workforce must not be set by the outcome of supply and demand in the labour market, because the welfare of human beings is the ultimate goal of economic growth and development. So, labour should not be regarded as a ‘commodity’.

Economic systems must guarantee living wages for decent work. Minimum wage legislation is one of a number of important mechanisms used to support workers against the risk of absolute poverty caused by market wages. While the goals associated with minimum wages are right and proper, minimum wages cannot be effective for most unemployed people who cannot survive without jobs and prefer to work with wages lower than the formal minimum rather than remain unemployed for a long time. Therefore, the existence of informal employment is inevitable, especially when unemployment is rising.

Iran has a long history of minimum wage legislation since 1946. However, despite the emphasis of the Labour Law, jobs with wages lower than the formal minimum have increased rapidly in small, medium and even large enterprises, especially over the past two decades. As Iran’s economy does not perform soundly and labour market institutions are not efficient, the Iranian government does not ensure the enforcement of the formal minimum wage. Therefore, low-paid jobs and informal employment is expanding.

“Decent Work” and the Valentin Urusov Case: A Test of Sincerity

Anna Wolańska

Like Russian politics, labour relations in Russia are rife with contradictions.

On the one hand, Vladimir Putin addressed the International Labour Conference in 2011 and marched with the trade unions in a 2012 May Day demonstration, portraying himself as a supporter of progressive labour legislation and the notion of social partnership. Russia has an established system of tripartism: no social issue can be decided on without being discussed by the country’s permanent tripartite commission.

To discuss the further development of tripartism and socially-responsible responses to the global crisis, the Russian government will host a major international conference on decent work in Moscow on 11–12 December 2012. Around 800 delegates are expected to attend, including prime ministers, government officials, trade unionists and representatives of employers’ associations from 80 countries.

Speaking in Geneva at a joint briefing with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder during the last session of the ILO Governing Body, Russian Federation Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Lyubov Yeltsova invited all ILO member states to take part in the conference. She emphasised the importance Russia attaches to cooperation in furthering international labour and social standards, the protection of individual and collective rights, and the interests of workers. As she put it, “the concept of decent work makes it possible to seek solutions to key challenges facing the international community, such as job creation, poverty reduction, social stability and globalization, on a just basis.”

Collective Bargaining or Collective Begging? A case of the public sector in Zimbabwe

Taurai Mereki

Introduction
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98 provide for the right to belong to trade unions, employers’ associations as well as the right to collective bargaining in any employment relationship. Collective bargaining is defined in ILO Convention 154 as “a voluntary process for reconciling the conflicting interests and aspirations of management and labour through joint regulation of terms and conditions of employment”. Zimbabwe ratified both conventions in 2003 and 1998 respectively. It also committed itself to the ILO Decent Work agenda and has a country programme which runs until 2015. However, government as the largest employer has not made positive strides when it comes to decent work. This article seeks to answer these central questions: is there collective bargaining in the public sector in Zimbabwe? Are there any factors hindering collective bargaining? Examples from state owned enterprises (SOEs), commonly referred to as parastatals, and to a certain extent the public service will be cited.

Trade unions, free trade and the problem of transnational solidarity

Andreas Bieler

Tensions between European trade unions and unions from the Global South over international free trade developed into an open confrontation during the talks over the revival of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha round in 2008. The European Metal Workers’ Federation (EMF) joined forces with the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) in the publication of two joint press releases demanding reciprocal market access in developed, emerging and developing countries. This led to an angry response by trade unions in the Global South, especially the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). The EMF was accused of undermining workers’ solidarity, since their co-operation with European employers in demanding equal market access would imply job losses in the Global South and undermine the internal unity of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).[i]

The WTO Doha negotiations have stalled for years. And yet, free trade agreements (FTAs) continue to be pushed in bilateral negotiations by the USA and the EU with developing countries and emerging markets. Importantly, these FTAs no longer only concern trade in manufactured goods, but now also include issues of intellectual property rights, trade in services and investment. Unsurprisingly, the tensions within the international labour movement persist. In this contribution, I will discuss the obstacles but also possibilities for establishing transnational solidarity in relation to tensions over trade liberalisation.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Outcome?

Carol Jess

The film industry is an important part of New Zealand (NZ) culture and source of patriotic pride, particularly since the successes of Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop with The Lord of the Rings films (LOTR). It is also economically significant; in 2004, 150 000 foreign tourists gave the Lord of the Rings as one of the main reasons for their visit to New Zealand. Globally, LOTR is the highest grossing motion picture trilogy of all time, and the joint record holder for the number of Oscars.

For the premiere of “The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey”, a prequel to LOTR, on 28 November 2012, New Zealand is going Hobbit mad. Wellington will be turned into “The Middle of Middle Earth” and international visitors will receive commemorative immigration stamps.[1]

For many in the New Zealand trade union movement though, the opening of The Hobbit will not inspire pride or excitement. Instead, the film serves as a reminder of how fragile our rights are when under assault from the fear of capital flight.

Zero Hunger: A Food Security Perspective for Brazil

Walter Belik

The debate on hunger in Brazil began in the early 1930s when Dr Josué de Castro, a famous physician and geographer, began his research on the health of workers in Recife, his hometown in the North-East of Brazil. Considering the labour conditions of these workers, Castro found out the sole reason for the particularly high absence and low productivity rates: hunger among the workers.
 

In 1946 Josué de Castro published his classic book “Geopolitics of Hunger”. The international reputation of this book helped him to be elected chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) during the early 1950s. Josué de Castro participated in the Brazilian government for two decades, playing a central role in the implementation of the School Meals Program, subsidies for workers’ meals paid by employers and many other important programs to combat hunger in Brazil (L’abatte, 1988). Unfortunately, after the military coup in the mid-1960s he went into exile and eventually died in Europe.

After Brazil’s re-democratisation process, the subject of hunger re-emerged. In the mid-1980s the country was devastated by an inflation rate of more than 3000% per annum and poverty and lack of food was affecting everyone. Consequently, a huge campaign led by a sociologist Herbert “Betinho” de Souza was launched in Brazil, mobilising the population to collect and donate food to needy people.

The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: An ILO landmark Convention

Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry

With serious economic difficulties confronting so many countries and workers in all regions, as Director of the International Labour Standards Department of the International Labour Office, I welcome the opportunity to share some very good news.
 

On August 20, 2012 the Russian Federation and the Republic of the Philippines were, respectively, the 29th and 30th countries to have their ratifications of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), registered. The ratification by these two countries is significant as the 30th ratification, when combined with ratifications by countries representing over 33 per cent of the world’s ships (based on gross tonnage), means that this innovative ILO Convention will enter into force (become binding as international law) for these 30 countries. With these 30 countries, the MLC, 2006 already covers almost 60 per cent of the world fleet in terms of gross tonnage of ships. Therefore, when the MLC, 2006 enters into force on 20 August 2013 it will establish minimum international standards for working and living conditions for seafarers working on more than 60 per cent of the world’s fleet of ships. Many more ratifications in all regions are expected over the next year or two.
 

How direct are the “direct elections” of trade union officials in China?

Elaine Sio-ieng Hui

Recently there have been reports on the introduction of the “direct election” (zhi xuan) of trade union officials in some enterprises in China, mainly in Shenzhen city. This article seeks to address the following questions. Firstly, is this a breakthrough for trade unions in China, which for a long time have been regarded as part of the state apparatus? Secondly, how should we evaluate this attempt at carrying out direct elections in enterprises? Thirdly, in what ways does it transcend the old way of doing business? Finally, how should the new practices be critically assessed?

The ACFTU in the long-running controversy

The party-state-led[1] All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) has long been a subject of controversy in the debate of labour politics in China. The recently published Industrial Democracy in China (Traub-Merz and Ngok, 2012) is a good point of departure for assessing its role in contemporary China. The ACFTU has always held a monopoly status in worker-representation. Any attempts to establish trade unions that are independent from the party-state and the ACFTU were met with heavy suppression (Taylor and Li, 2007). During the state-socialist era, the ACFTU was a “transmission belt” between the party-state and workers. On the one hand, it transmitted top-down instructions from the party-state to workers and mobilised the latter to support the former’s propaganda. On the other, it organised the welfare of workers and transmitted their interests and concerns upward for the party-state’s consideration.

The Working Rich Phenomenon: Top Incomes in Germany

Hagen M. Krämer

Christina Anselmann

During the past few years, different studies have revealed that developments at the top of the income distribution have had a significant impact on overall income inequality in a number of nations, especially several English-speaking countries. For instance, while the income share of the tenth decile in the United States of America (USA) had declined from 46.3 percent in 1932 to 32.7 percent in 1943 and remained at this relatively low level in subsequent decades, it increased again from 32.7 percent in 1981 to 46.3 percent in 2010 (cf. Alvaredo et al. 2012) . The trend in Germany generally went in the same direction as it will be shown below. There is also another similarity regarding the composition of top earners’ incomes in both countries. Among the highest income groups, the income of top managers – which is statistically classified as labour income – makes up a growing fraction. In particular, the exploding remuneration of board members of incorporated companies and for certain financial professionals led to the emergence of the new phenomenon of the working rich. At least in the US they “have overtaken the ‘coupon-clipping rentiers’” (Piketty & Saez 2007, p. 152).

Europe at the Crossroads

Steffen Lehndorff

Looking at Europe these days some people (at least of my generation) may remember the lyrics of a famous song of the rock band AC/DC from the late 1970s: “I'm on my way to the Promised Land — I'm on the highway to hell.” More and more countries of the Euro zone are drifting into another recession, and some Southern European countries have been driven into an ever deepening economic depression which has lasted for four years already. The stranglehold of cutting public expenditures is not just blocking the road to economic recovery; this obsession with austerity makes it increasingly difficult to draw lessons from the economic policy failures in the pre-crisis period. These lessons, however, are desperately needed for any re-orientation of socio-economic models (or “growth models”) in the crisis-ridden countries, but equally in the allegedly “healthy” economies. Moreover, European countries are being directed politically into national egoisms which are about to drive the European project to the brink. Europe is being forced into a fiscal dictatorship which suffers from a fundamental lack of democratic foundations for economic governance at the European Union (EU) level and has already begun to interfere with fundamental democratic rights within member states. The complexity of the challenge to find a way out goes well beyond a more appropriate macroeconomic policy.

Rank & File Participation and International Union Democracy

Vasco Pedrina

Trade union democracy and active rank & file participation are two sides of the same coin, both nationally and internationally. Historically, trade unions were built and operated almost exclusively by workers who devoted their spare time to the union cause. Along with the growth in their membership and the development of their economic strength, trade unions developed administrative and technical structures whose operation has increasingly been ensured by full-time union officials. Ultimately, this organisational transformation often led to bureaucracy, and the weakening of rank & file participation and trade union democracy. This transformation was characterised by an ever-increasing delegation of tasks from the active union base to the full-time union officials, a shift in union activities from the field to trade union offices, and a weaker trade union presence in the workplace.

From trade unionism in a booming economy to trade unionism in hard times[1]

During the economic boom of the “30 glorious years” that followed the Second World War, the impact of these developments was not very serious for the workers in countries with strong trade union traditions. For workers in such countries it was not too difficult to negotiate socially progressive agreements with the employers or the state at the bargaining table. Born from the ashes of a terrible war, the “Spirit of Philadelphia”[2], which gave rise to the "European Social Model", provided the guiding framework for the relatively calm labour relations characteristic of the period (at least in developed countries). The neoliberal offensive of the ‘80s and ‘90s, together with the first serious signs of systemic crisis, radically changed the situation. Many unions found themselves like “The Naked King”, paralysed by their bureaucracies, powerless in the face of the trends evolving in the consumer society, and confronted by a new generation of US-style managers and hard-right politicians, who had no time for social dialogue. In short, trade unions were no longer being taken seriously as a countervailing power.

The economic crisis and job quality in Europe: some worrying trends and worse may be to come

Janine Leschke

Andrew Watt

The economic crisis has had a dramatic and lasting impact on labour markets worldwide. The recent ILO Global Employment Trends report spelled out the damage wrought in terms of the declines in employment and consequent rise in unemployment: globally the employment-to-population ratio fell by one percentage point and unemployment rose by 27 million persons.

But what have been the impacts on the quality of work? We can shed some light on this for the 27 member countries of the European Union using a Job Quality Index (JQI) developed at the European Trade Union Institute. We first calculated the JQI based on 2005 data; see here for the findings. We have now repeated the analysis based on 2010 data; by comparing the two sets of results we can see how job quality has changed on various dimensions over the five-year period and draw some conclusions about the impact of the crisis. The full results will be available shortly as an ETUI Working Paper; here we provide Global Labour Column readers with a brief analysis of the key findings[1] .

Measuring job quality: key features of the ETUI’s JQI

Whether one perceives one’s job as being of high or low quality depends, obviously, on a mix of both subjective and objective factors. And the mix is complex: how can, for instance, a clean and safe working environment be weighed against, say, autonomy at work or the fact that one is working the ‘right’ number of hours? The interested reader will find here a detailed description of the methodology underlying the JQI, our attempt to systematise the numerous factors impacting on job quality. For the purposes of this column the following basic features need to be borne in mind.

T-Shirt Economics: Labour in the Imperialist World Economy

Tony Norfield

Everybody knows that workers are paid different wages in different countries. However, the scale of the divergence in wages can nevertheless be surprising: not just 10% or 20% different, but more like a factor of 2, 5, 10 or 20 between the richer countries and the poorer countries. Mainstream economic theory explains this – and justifies it – by arguing that workers in richer countries are more productive than in poorer ones, arguing that the former are more educated and skilled, working with higher levels of technology. Yet this explanation does not sit well with the reality that many manufacturing employees in poor countries are employed, directly or indirectly, by major corporations, and working with technology that is comparable to that in the richer countries.

An American manufacturing worker on some $34 per hour, including welfare and other benefits, may not feel rich, and he is certainly earning a tiny proportion of the salary of his managers and the CEO. Nevertheless, he is earning more than twice what a South Korean manufacturing worker earns, nearly five times the wages and benefits of a Polish worker, around 20 times that of a Chinese worker and an even bigger multiple of those for workers in India.[i] How can this be?

Wage Negotiations for the Public Service in Zimbabwe

Nyika Gwanoya

The civil workforce in Zimbabwe faces an uncertain future due to ongoing wage negotiations with the government which seem to be bearing no fruit[1]. At the forefront of the current negotiations is the Apex Council of public sector unions led by the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) who are in negotiations with the Public Service ministry led by Lucia Matibenga. Zimta is part of the Apex council which is a bargaining body with three other civil servants’ unions namely, Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe and the Public Service Association.

The majority of the civil servants in Zimbabwe are earning well below the poverty datum line with the lowest paid civil servant earning close to $180[2] a month. The unions in Zimbabwe who represent the civil servants are unhappy at the protracted negotiations which have borne few results. The offer by government is seen as very low and falls well short of their demands. The unions are demanding that the minimum wage for government workers should be $538 a month which is on par with the poverty datum line estimated to be $540 by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ). However, the blanket offer by the government of $240 million would lead to an increase of the civil servants’ salaries by close to $90. Although this increment is above the inflation rates, it will be unable to cushion the employees against the rising cost of living given their already low salaries.

Trade Union Activists are in Jail in Turkey, but why?

Zeynep Ekin Aklar

Gaye Yilmaz

(written by  Zeynep Ekin Aklar with contribution from Gaye Yilmaz)

The repression of opposition movements, particularly trade unions, has been increasing in Turkey since 2008. Today more than 6000 people are in jail as a result of having different opinions from the Turkish government. More specifically, since the end of March 2012, more than 100 journalists and artists, 40 trade union activists, 1000 children, 600 students and academics and thousands of activitists from the Kurdish movement have been held in prison for months without trial. As recently as 25 June 2012, 71 Kurdish trade union members of the Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK) were detained. For the first time since the 1980 military intervention, Mr. Lami Özgen, a leader of a trade union confederation was detained.

Europe’s lost Decade – Paths out of Stagnation

Hansjörg Herr

The Great Recession of 2008-2010 reflects an economic instability that had built up over the previous decades. Within the European Monetary Union (EMU), the crisis of the financial market-driven development model is overlaid by a largely homemade state debt crisis and an undefined integration goal. The western world, and more particularly Europe, is facing a lost decade.

The market radical globalisation project

The 1950s-60s may be counted among the best years of the young capitalist social order. This was because everyone could have a slice of progress. The dynamic consumer demand was based on a relatively well-balanced income distribution. Investment activity was high and stable, given the low level of economic uncertainty and the stable development of demand. Precarious employment relationships were just as rare as complicated financial market products or obscenely high managerial pay. The 1970s saw the start of a crisis that reflected an inability to adapt the prevailing economic model. The crisis led, notably in the UK and the US, to the election of conservative governments who embarked on a radical reshaping of the policy framework.

What Europe can learn from the South

Nicolas Pons-Vignon

After having caused a massive increase in inequality throughout the world, which led to the build-up of politely called “imbalances” and which fireballed into a financial, then economic, crisis, neoliberal policies are threatening to push many economies into a precipice with unknown political and social consequences. Yet, the European countries at the heart of this turmoil are showing little sign of resistance; the growing social movements opposing bailout and austerity have thus far failed to influence dominant parties and national policies. Instead, it appears that the very same policy mix of austerity and privatization which shattered African, Latin American and ex-communist countries in the 1980s and ’90s is being inflicted on Europe. The irony lies in the fact that most economists now agree that these policies have indeed had disastrous consequences. The belief that what led to a growth collapse and social disaster elsewhere will have positive consequences in Europe is an illusion which is sustained by the mainstream media and by powerful interest groups. Lambert (2012) thus highlights the French media’s predilection for consulting a coterie of economists who are closely linked to (or rather remunerated by) financial interests, and who invariably play down the responsibility of banks in the crisis and the usefulness of taxing finance rather than, say, ordinary citizens through increased value added taxes. In Italy, the “structural reforms” supposedly aimed at boosting growth focus on accelerating flexibilization of the labour market, in a context already marked by very high levels of precariousness.

Trade Unions, Globalisation and Internationalism

Ronaldo Munck

This piece reports on recent research around the relationship between trade unions and internationalisation in the context of globalisation. It argues for a more open, less pessimistic view than the dominant one. This view builds on the experiences of the 1970s and is cognisant of the depth of the current crisis.

Transnationalism

Unions and the workers they represent have always been part of a transnational system of labour relations. Capital has always been mobile and the capital/wage-labour relation has never been hermetically contained within national boundaries. However, until quite recently, the dominant system of industrial relations had been confined, almost exclusively, within a national frame. In the 1970s, a ‘new’ international division of labour emerged as the ex-colonial countries began to industrialise and the multinational corporations became central players in the neo-colonial global system. This period saw a major flourishing of transnational labour activity and the hope, soon dashed, that union internationalism could act as a ‘countervailing power’ to that of the multinationals.

Globalization and Taxation: Trends and Consequences

Ilan Strauss

To misuse Marx’s often quoted phrase: governments are in love with tax revenue but ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’. This failed romance should be of concern to those of us who prioritise egalitarian economic outcomes, because taxes and benefits can substantially mitigate the effects of poverty. Among OECD countries, differences in tax and benefit regimes are vital in accounting for differences in poverty rates. After the benefits of tax and welfare are taken into consideration, ‘market poverty’ in north European economies declines by around three quarters, whereas in the US this declines by only one-quarter. For low income economies the development of an effective tax regime can therefore be of great benefit to the working and non-working poor.

Given the above, it is important to ask if globalization has affected the ability of economies to implement an affective and progressive tax regime. And if so how? Although it is a mistake to attribute all the problems facing national tax regimes to globalization, it is equally incorrect to propose that globalization has played no role at all in shaping these issues.

Labour and Economic Reform in Cuba

Anamary M. Linares

Oscar F. Estrada

A changing political context The Cuban economy is unique in many regards; its exceptionality mainly lies in its persistence in building socialism within a largely neoliberal globalised world. The disintegration of the socialist bloc, which accounted for more than 80% of the country’s foreign trade, had a severe impact on Cuba. Since the crisis of the 1990s, provoked by internal structural distortions spurred by the collapse of European socialism, the Cuban economy has been constantly struggling. The nadir point of the crisis was reached in 1993 when GDP was nearly 35% lower than in 1989. Subsequent data showed a remarkable recovery in the performance of the main macroeconomic aggregates. However, the statistics of the last five years reveal an exhausted economic model.

David J.P. Espina

The combination of external factors (global crises, natural disasters, and the US economic blockade) with internal structural distortions, resulting from incomplete reforms initiated in the early 1990s, has produced an ailing economy. Some of the salient symptoms of the current situation include: unsustainable fiscal deficits as a percentage of GDP (amounting to 6.7% in 2008 and 4.8% in 2009); permanent deficits in the trade balance, and especially in the goods sector since exports of professional services help maintain some level of equilibrium; large-scale withholding of payments to foreign creditors and investors; and wages in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which are not acting as incentives to increase productivity.

Challenges for Minimum Wage Campaign in South Korea

Lee Changgeun

For the past decade, labour conditions in South Korea can be characterised by rapid increases in precarious work and low pay, both of which have contributed to widening inequality. As of March 2011, precarious workers accounted for 48.5 % of the total labour force (17 million) and low pay rate as the share of wage earners earning below two-thirds of median wages (ILO) was 28% (4.79 million), a jump from 23% in 2001. Not surprisingly, most low paid workers are precarious workers. Almost half of precarious workers are expected to fall into the low-pay trap. In 2011, on average, precarious workers were paid 52.8% less than regular workers. Wage decile ratios have also deteriorated. The D9/D1[1] ratio has grown from 4.81 in 2001 to 5.49 in 2011. It is, therefore, no surprise minimum wages have attracted so much attention in recent years in Korea.