Financial Labor Union "Total Strike if Real Wage Guarantees and Other Demands Are Not Accepted"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The National Financial Industry Labor Union (Financial Labor Union) announced on the 3rd that regarding this year's wage negotiations between financial labor and management, "If demands such as guaranteeing real wages are not accepted, we will unite the consensus of 100,000 financial workers and launch an all-out general strike and struggle."

On the same day, the Financial Labor Union held a '2021 Wage and Collective Bargaining All-Out Struggle Declaration Press Conference' and made this announcement. The day before, following the breakdown of sectoral negotiations, the Financial Labor Union conducted a 'strike action approval vote by all union members' at 38 branches and nationwide subcommittees under the Financial Labor Union. Out of a total of 90,151 union members, 66,045 (73.26%) participated, and 61,075 voted in favor, approving the strike action with 92.47%. The Financial Labor Union plans to hold a resolution rally for the general strike both online and offline on the 10th.

Since submitting this year's negotiation agenda to management in March, the Financial Labor Union has undergone 18 practical negotiations, 5 representative negotiations, 4 chief representative negotiations, and 2 mediation processes at the Central Labor Relations Commission, but failed to narrow differences.

The Financial Labor Union is demanding the reduction of unreasonable wage gaps between regular employees (wage increase rate of 4.3%) and low-wage groups (8.6%), and the establishment of solidarity wages to resolve polarization among non-regular workers. On the other hand, the Employers' Council is reportedly proposing a 1.2% wage increase.

The Financial Labor Union pointed out, "Last year, in solidarity with small business owners and vulnerable workers facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis, we agreed to a wage increase rate of 1.8%, which is 1 percentage point lower than the public officials' wage increase rate. Half of the increase was paid in the form of local currency and Onnuri gift certificates, and the other half was used to support vulnerable workers and to establish the Workers' Welfare Promotion Fund."

The Financial Labor Union's sectoral central labor-management committee lists the following as major demands: ▲ employer contributions to public interest foundations to resolve polarization and fulfill financial companies' social responsibilities ▲ establishment of labor-management agreement procedures when closing branches ▲ guarantee of autonomous labor-management negotiation rights ▲ simultaneous use of lunch breaks to reduce customer waiting times and guarantee workers' legal rest times. Additionally, they demand the abolition of the wage peak system, withdrawal of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's public institution innovation guidelines, and improvement of the management evaluation system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.