Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Financial industry's strike plan fails to win support from colleagues
Members of the Korean Financial Industry Union (KFIU) hold banners in front of the headquarters of the Korea Federation of Banks in central Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
The Korean Financial Industry Union (KFIU) confirmed its plan to go ahead with an all-out strike from Friday, yet the strike is unlikely to present major setbacks to financial customers, as only a minimal percentage of union members are expected to join the move.
According to the KFIU, the industry union, which includes members from both commercial banks and state-run banks, decided last month to go on strike. If the strike takes place as planned, it will be the first financial sector strike in six years, following one in September 2016.
The key reason for the strike is the failure to reach an agreement between financial industry employees and management over wage increase rates, along with other issues. The union demanded a 5.2 percent wage increase, while management suggested a significantly lower 1.4 percent. The union also asked for a reduction of work hours and improvements to the peak wage system, which is a gradual cutback of salaries for older workers starting several years before retirement.
However, the public remains apathetic about the strike's motives. Wage increase demands from employees who have relatively well-paid working conditions at both commercial banks and state-run banks, whose average annual salary exceeds 100 million won ($71,700), have failed to resonate with the general public.
The soaring interest rates lately, which affect the public's payment of loan interest, is also behind the public's chilly response to banking employees' strike plan.
Although the union said about 100,000 members from about 7,000 branches across the country are slated to join the strike, the actual participation rate among union members is also expected to be limited. Only about one or two people from each branch of major commercial banks are expected to join the strike.
“The union keeps encouraging members to join the strike, but the union's cause doesn't seem to be strong enough to draw massive participation from members,” a banking employee said on condition of anonymity.
In 2016, the strike participation rate out of the total number of banking employees at four major commercial banks stood at 3 percent.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Thursday that it would closely monitor the situation at local banks during the strike starting Friday. It said it has set up contingency plans to respond to any unexpected situations during the strike by closely communicating with banks.