Union workers in the public and finance sectors are poised to go on strike this week to protest the government's push to expand the performance-based wage system.
On Thursday, about 10,000 members of the Federation of Korean Public Industry Trade Unions plan to hold a rally in front of Seoul Station. The Korean Financial Industry Union will follow suit, demanding the government drop the new wage system. Next week, railway and subway workers and hospital union members will join the strike.
The upcoming walkout is expected to be the largest in the incumbent administration with more than 200,000 people taking part. The public will also experience plenty of inconveniences because the banks, railways and other entities are closely related to their livelihoods.
The labor ministry vowed to take stern measures against illegal acts according to law and principles. Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Ki-kweon said few would support the walkout by public and finance workers who enjoy job security and high wages.
It's not right to blame labor strikes blindly under the pretext of promoting industrial peace if union members follow due procedure. But this is definitely no time for industrial action.
Both exports and domestic consumption are sluggish as the Korean economy is trapped in prolonged low growth. Furthermore, social unrest has been mounting owing to North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship and earthquakes.
The public and finance sectors are peerless when it comes to wages, labor conditions and job security. In the eyes of non-regular workers struggling with low pay and jobless young people eager to get hired, strikes by workers in ''god's workplaces'' would be incomprehensible.
Unionists are pushing for collective action to deter the performance-based salary system the government is pushing to apply to junior-level employees who are still subject to a seniority-based wage scheme. By contrast, executives and senior level managers are already subject to the system.
The system is intended to inject efficiency and competition into the public and finance sectors, which at the moment are imbued with inefficiency and complacency, by giving hard-working employees better treatment. It is quite common in private companies here as well as in other industrialized countries.
There is something to unions' concerns that the performance-based salary system will lead to easier layoffs and undermine job security. But it's long overdue to overhaul the wage system in the public and finance sectors, given the severity of inefficiency there.
Unions should withdraw their strike plan immediately and cooperate with the government's push to improve productivity.
On Thursday, about 10,000 members of the Federation of Korean Public Industry Trade Unions plan to hold a rally in front of Seoul Station. The Korean Financial Industry Union will follow suit, demanding the government drop the new wage system. Next week, railway and subway workers and hospital union members will join the strike.
The upcoming walkout is expected to be the largest in the incumbent administration with more than 200,000 people taking part. The public will also experience plenty of inconveniences because the banks, railways and other entities are closely related to their livelihoods.
The labor ministry vowed to take stern measures against illegal acts according to law and principles. Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Ki-kweon said few would support the walkout by public and finance workers who enjoy job security and high wages.
It's not right to blame labor strikes blindly under the pretext of promoting industrial peace if union members follow due procedure. But this is definitely no time for industrial action.
Both exports and domestic consumption are sluggish as the Korean economy is trapped in prolonged low growth. Furthermore, social unrest has been mounting owing to North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship and earthquakes.
The public and finance sectors are peerless when it comes to wages, labor conditions and job security. In the eyes of non-regular workers struggling with low pay and jobless young people eager to get hired, strikes by workers in ''god's workplaces'' would be incomprehensible.
Unionists are pushing for collective action to deter the performance-based salary system the government is pushing to apply to junior-level employees who are still subject to a seniority-based wage scheme. By contrast, executives and senior level managers are already subject to the system.
The system is intended to inject efficiency and competition into the public and finance sectors, which at the moment are imbued with inefficiency and complacency, by giving hard-working employees better treatment. It is quite common in private companies here as well as in other industrialized countries.
There is something to unions' concerns that the performance-based salary system will lead to easier layoffs and undermine job security. But it's long overdue to overhaul the wage system in the public and finance sectors, given the severity of inefficiency there.
Unions should withdraw their strike plan immediately and cooperate with the government's push to improve productivity.
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