South Korean Bank Unions Threaten Strike Against Mergers
December 13, 2000 - 0:0
SEOUL South Korean banking unions on Tuesday threatened a strike to protest against government-forced mergers in the debt-stricken banking sector.
"If the government pushes ahead with forced mergers among banks and layoffs, we will launch a general strike as early as next week," Lee Yohng-Deuk, head of the Korea Financial Trade Union (KFTU), told AFP.
The KFTU, which has some 80,000 members at 80 banks and other financial institutions, demanded the government abide by a July accord which ruled out forced mergers.
The government had also promised to respect existing labor-management agreements which call for prior consultations with unions on job losses and realigning the bank sector.
"The government is forcing mergers among banks even though managers of those banks raise doubts about their synergy effects," Lee said.
The warning came as reports said Kookmin Bank and Housing and Commercial Bank (HCB) are to merge into a "super bank," and Korea Exchange Bank and Hanvit Bank will also be joined as part of the government-ordered consolidation of the banking industry.
Lee Keun-Young, head of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said analysts believed the merger between Kookmin and HCB would produce synergies.
He stressed the government was not forcing banks to link but banks themselves were "voluntarily" pursuing fusions.
Should the mergers between the four banks come off, some 10,000 out of 38,000 employees of the banks would lose their jobs, according to unions.
HCB Vice President Kim Young-Il confirmed the bank was seeking partners but declined to give names.
"We are considering all kinds of possible scenarios to merge with healthy banks," he told AFP.
Korea Exchange Bank Head Kim Kyung-Lim told journalists the government last month proposed putting the bank under the wing of a government-led holding company.
"If the government pushes ahead with forced mergers among banks and layoffs, we will launch a general strike as early as next week," Lee Yohng-Deuk, head of the Korea Financial Trade Union (KFTU), told AFP.
The KFTU, which has some 80,000 members at 80 banks and other financial institutions, demanded the government abide by a July accord which ruled out forced mergers.
The government had also promised to respect existing labor-management agreements which call for prior consultations with unions on job losses and realigning the bank sector.
"The government is forcing mergers among banks even though managers of those banks raise doubts about their synergy effects," Lee said.
The warning came as reports said Kookmin Bank and Housing and Commercial Bank (HCB) are to merge into a "super bank," and Korea Exchange Bank and Hanvit Bank will also be joined as part of the government-ordered consolidation of the banking industry.
Lee Keun-Young, head of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said analysts believed the merger between Kookmin and HCB would produce synergies.
He stressed the government was not forcing banks to link but banks themselves were "voluntarily" pursuing fusions.
Should the mergers between the four banks come off, some 10,000 out of 38,000 employees of the banks would lose their jobs, according to unions.
HCB Vice President Kim Young-Il confirmed the bank was seeking partners but declined to give names.
"We are considering all kinds of possible scenarios to merge with healthy banks," he told AFP.
Korea Exchange Bank Head Kim Kyung-Lim told journalists the government last month proposed putting the bank under the wing of a government-led holding company.