[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korean financial industry workers called Tuesday for a crippling strike this week against a new performance-based incentive wage system aimed at introducing a flexible labor market.
The Korea Financial Industry Union (KFIU), an umbrella labor group, urged about 100,000 members to boycott work and participate in a rally Friday at a soccer stadium in Seoul.
The group demanded financial regulators stay away from labor-management relations, insisting the new wage system could be used by banks to go ahead with easier layoffs than before.
The country's financial watchdog has pushed for reforms in the banking sector, urging public financial companies to abandon an inefficient corporate culture and lead corporate restructuring.
Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong has warned of punitive steps against state-funded financial institutions if they drag their feet in adopting an incentive wage system.
Yim urged state-run financial companies to streamline their structure, lashing out at an easy-going attitude and complacency at state-run banks despite a higher pay than ordinary private companies. Companies that fail to adopt the new system in time will see frozen wages and expenses as well as a cut in their budget. he told a meeting of bank chiefs in May.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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