Financial branches under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions are drawing up concrete plans to jointly respond to the government's transfer of financial institutions to the provinces. If the government pushes ahead with the transfer of financial institutions, the two umbrella unions are expected to set up a "struggle headquarters" and enter a full-scale fight.
According to ChosunBiz reporting compiled on the 29th, executives of the National Financial Industry Labor Union (Financial Union) under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions gathered in Seoul on the afternoon of the 26th for a meeting. The meeting shared the status of the joint response by the two umbrella unions to block the second round of public institution transfer to the provinces and discussed setting the direction of future actions.
After the June 3 local elections, the government has been strongly pushing the second round of public institution transfer to the provinces. On the 8th, President Lee Jae-myung said at a news conference marking his first year in office, "We will transfer (public institutions) as much as possible within the scope we can. However, instead of dispersing them to many regions, we are thinking of sending them to a few places."
As the financial authorities, state-run banks, and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation are mentioned as candidates for transfer to the provinces, the Financial Union is moving. They are making all-out efforts to scrap the transfer plan itself.
A financial industry official said, "The Financial Union visited candidates running in the local elections who included the transfer of state-run banks to the provinces in their pledges and pressed them hard, saying they would wage a 'campaign to defeat' them. It also expressed opposition through multiple meetings with the Innovation City Development Promotion Team at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the ministry in charge of the transfer to the provinces."
In the economic growth strategy to be announced in mid-July, the government plans to unveil the general direction of the transfer of public institutions to the provinces. If the transfer of financial institutions to the provinces becomes certain there, the two umbrella unions plan to shift into a full-scale fight. The "transfer to the provinces task force (TF)" under the two umbrella unions will be reorganized into a "struggle headquarters" when the full-scale fight begins, and, led by it, activities such as anti-government condemnation rallies and news conferences are expected to proceed.
Institutions mentioned as candidates for transfer to the provinces are keeping their heads down. One official said, "There is a mood of worrying that if we step to the fore and oppose when nothing is specifically decided yet, we could fall out of favor. We are quietly watching the situation."