By Chung Ah-young
The pilots’ unions of Korean Air are in a dispute with another union that represents other employees of the company over a demand made by the carrier’s pilots for a large pay hike.
The unions representing the company employees are the Korean Air Labor Union (KALU), consisting of 10,000 members including flight attendants, the Korean Air Pilots Union (KPU) with 1,080 members and the New Korean Air Pilots Union with 760 members.
The KALU recently issued a statement about an impending vote by the pilots to decide whether to go on strike, raising the question of justification of its collective action.
“Due to the pilots’ strike in 2005, more than 200 flights were cancelled. The pilots’ unions became the ‘noble’ union which failed to gain public support,” the statement said.
The KALU agreed to a 1.9 percent pay hike that management proposed last year but the pilots and their unions have refused the management’s proposal for the same pay raise as other employees.
After the National Labor Relations Commission failed to help mediate a satisfactory outcome to the negotiations on Jan. 19, the union will continue the vote through Feb. 1 for the strike.
The KALU said that although the 2005 pilot strike harmed other workers who endured protests from passengers due to inconveniences caused, the pilots are preparing for the strike without consideration of the needs of other staff working for the services of passengers, repairs, shipments, reservation and sales.
“If the pilots vote for the walkout, other employees, except for the pilots, will feel frustration and the efforts by the management and other employees will go in vain,” it said.
The pilots have made their demands, citing a pay rise last year granted to its chairman, Cho Yang-ho. The KPU said that although the company is struggling through the business slowdown, top managers have continued to receive their high paychecks but have demanded sacrifices from the employees.
The pilots have complained about their relatively low pay compared to that for pilots in other countries. Korean Air's pilots receive an average $8,700 per month, one third of that paid to Chinese pilots who receive $25,000 after taxes. Among the 2,500 Korean Air pilots, 130 moved to foreign airlines and low-cost carriers last year, seeking higher pay.
However, the company said that the pilot unions miscalculated the pay hike granted to its chairman, when rejecting their demand.
After the KALU’s statement, the pilot unions also issued a statement, saying that the KALU has forced the pilots to accept the 1.9 percent raise which was offered by the management.