About 10 a.m. on August 8, KB Kookmin Bank, Noryangjin Branch in Seoul. Two out of the five windows were "out of business," but they were quiet in the area. "There are not many customers who come in person, not even the elderly," a branch official said. "These days, most customers use mobile banking." Kim Dong-hyun, a 38-year-old office worker who visited the bank during lunch time, said, "I came to the branch office to renew my credit card, but I think there are fewer people than when I visited the bank last time." 

Citizens said it is not too inconvenient because most view simple banking as Internet banking or mobile banking. "The number of non-face transactions through smart phones, the Internet, and automated devices is 86 percent of the total number of transactions," Kookmin Bank. Lee Min-joo, a 29-year-old civil servant who usually uses Kookmin Bank's mobile banking system, said, "I didn't even know we were going on strike today." 

Some customers complained of inconvenience. Won Seong-hee (61), who visited Sangdo Dong Branch, left the bank, saying, "I came to get my bank account reissued tomorrow." An, 71, who came to the bank with her husband to pay for gas, also returned home, saying, "I walked for 30 minutes, but I couldn't help it because I couldn't because I came here for 30 minutes." 

The KB Kookmin Bank labor union staged a one-day warning strike on Wednesday, but there was no major confusion in the whole process. The bank opened all its 1,058 branches nationwide despite labor strikes. The bank designated 411 stores across the country to carry out most of the work, including home purchase funds, jeonse loans, export, import and business finance. 

At 9 a.m. on the same day, the union of Kookmin Bank held a general strike at the student gym in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 토토사이트추천 with some 9,000 members (assumed by the union). "Users hid unfair discrimination such as new hires and paybands, and only falsely accused union members of unfair labor practices, as if a financial worker started a strike because of money," union leader Park Hong-bae said. It is the first time in 19 years that the bank union has staged a strike since the 2000 strike against the merger of Kookmin and Housing banks. 

The strike will put the leadership of Kookmin Bank CEO Huh In-han at the test site. Heo, who served as a labor union leader at a former long-term credit bank, took office in November 2017 as the first former union chairman among commercial banks. After Huh took office, he expected the relationship with Kookmin Bank's labor union, which is considered strong among the bank's labor unions, would be smooth, but the reality has been the opposite. 

Some say that Huh, a former labor union chairman who is well aware of the labor situation, failed to lead labor-management negotiations and was swayed by unreasonable demands from labor unions. However, the bank strongly denied it. Huh tried to prevent labor strikes by accepting the "payment of 300 percent of achievement," a key issue between labor and management, in an internal broadcast on Wednesday. However, the union refused to accept Huh`s proposal, citing conditions such as the wage peak system. 

The strike did not end in a single day on Wednesday. The union has also announced a second round of strikes for two days, from the 31st and the 1st. As the Lunar New Year holiday (February 2 - 6) is just around the corner, customers are expected to experience more inconvenience than the first one if the second strike becomes a reality. 

54 bank executives said they would take responsibility for any disruptions caused by the labor union`s strike on April 4. However, Huh is known to have postponed the resignation of executives. Although labor and management of Kookmin Bank have reached an agreement on major issues such as performance pay, wage peak system and others remain. Regarding the pay band (the ceiling on salary per position), which only targets new hires, the company initially insisted on expanding all positions, but made a compromise by maintaining the current system. On the other hand, labor unions are demanding that pay bands be abolished.