[Young Journalist Sophia Lee] The national financial labor union that the financial labor union of such as commercial bank, industry bank are in has decided to have a general strike on the upcoming 26th. 

The financial union stated, “As a result of labor dispute vote for every union member, it has decided with 94.98 % in favor”, and “This full-scale action was determined for the change in the attitude for the negotiation from the company”. If the strike happens as noticed, labor union members who are affiliated with commercial banks, industry banks, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and KAMCO(Korea Asset Management Corporation) will halt work completely.

The main demands for the upcoming industrial bargaining are ▲5% increase in the wage, ▲4.5 days workweek, ▲expanded new hiring, and ▲longer retirement age. The financial labor union is going to have a resolution rally to call a good-faith negotiation in front of the banker’s association on September 3rd, before the strike. After a press conference on 8th, they will hold an all out struggle resolution rally for the aspiration of 4.5days workweek realization. Then, the general strike that every union member is participating in, starts on the 26th.

The financial labor union’s claim for 4.5days workweek is not a current event. They have been working to realize it from 2022, but it didn’t succeed because of the public backlash. Even last year, they had a strike after 2 years, to implement 4.5days workweeks and 30 minutes arrangement on business hours(starts at 9:30 a.m). The approval rate for that strike was 95.06%.

The financial labor union says they need shortened working hours to solve the low-birthrate problem. They claim that they can alleviate the low birthrate issue because they can  spend more time with family by shorter working hours.  

The chairman of financial labor union Kim Hyung Sun stated, “4.5days workweek is not just for the workers in the financial industry, but also to recover the balance of work and life, and it is the beginning of the change to increase the happiness of general society”.


▶원문 기사: “임금 5% 인상, 주4.5일제 도입해야”....금융노조, 26일 총파업 예고 (이코노미스트, 2025. 9. 2)

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