Unionists at SC First Bank to visit London for protest

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- The labor union of SC First Bank said Friday that four union representatives will visit the headquarters of the bank's parent group in London this weekend to protest the bank's move to adopt a merit pay system. The labor strike at the South Korean unit of Standard Chartered Plc. entered its 26th day on Friday, the longest walkout in the history of the local banking sector. Unionists started an indefinite strike on June 27. The union said the representatives plan to fly to London on Saturday and to hold a press conference there in an effort to explain why the strike should be justified. They have made a request for a meeting with Peter Sands, chairman of Standard Chartered. "As negotiations with the management fell through on Wednesday, the labor union will not first move for a dialogue any longer," Kim Jae-yul, head of the labor union, told a press conference., signaling that they will continue to walk away from the job. SC First Bank is the first lender in South Korea seeking to overhaul a seniority-based pay system, inviting fierce opposition from its labor union, which claims the new pay scheme is merely aimed at reducing labor costs. Out of 6,500 bank employees, half are unionized workers and about 2,900 union members have been staging a rally. The prolonged labor strike has forced the lender to temporarily shut down about 10 percent of its nearly 400 branches, causing bank customers to face inconveniences in using financial services. On Wednesday, the management suggested a revised proposal to the labor union like creating a task force to discuss the issue of adopting the performance-based salary system, but differences in opinions over other issues led the negotiation to fall through. Moody's Investor Service on Wednesday lowered its rating outlook of SC First Bank from stable to negative, citing concerns over the ongoing labor strike. Standard Chartered acquired Korea First Bank for 3.4 trillion won (US$3.2 billion) in April 2005 and renamed it SC First Bank in September of the same year, the largest ever takeover by the British banking giant.