Korean Air Lines announced personnel management policies for the integrated airline, including that, after its merger with Asiana Airlines, employee seniority will be based on the order of each person's airline hire date.
Korean Air Lines is at odds with the pilots' labor union after rejecting its request for talks on establishing the seniority system, but it is moving to complete the merger on schedule.
According to the aviation industry on the 29th, Korean Air Lines held a briefing on the 28th for pilots of Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines regarding personnel operations following the integration and announced these details.
Korean Air Lines prepared a personnel integration plan through external consulting after the merger. Starting in mid-month, it has been holding briefings for all employees, including office staff, maintenance personnel, and cabin crew.
The briefing is intended to explain changes in treatment, including pay and benefits, arising from the process of absorbing Asiana Airlines employees into Korean Air Lines, as well as performance evaluation methods and promotion systems.
Korean Air Lines decided to align the integrated airline's personnel management system with the current Korean Air Lines system, including immediately matching Asiana Airlines' relatively lower wages to Korean Air Lines levels.
Various allowance schemes, including flight premium pay that had been favorable at Asiana Airlines, will also be changed to Korean Air Lines levels.
Previously, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae said at a town hall meeting that the integrated airline's operating standards for job grade structures by job category, benefits, and pay would be set by Korean Air Lines.
A solution was also presented for the employee seniority issue. The principle is to align it based on airline hire date. Based on Asiana Airlines employees' hire dates, new Korean Air Lines employee numbers will be assigned to align the seniority system with existing staff.
However, for pilots, the two companies have different hiring standards, and cabin crew also have different probation periods, so controversy is likely to continue. Korean Air Lines also plans to differentiate promotions and the like, but it is not easy to produce answers that satisfy the many cases.
For first officer hiring, Korean Air Lines requires 1,000 flight hours, more than three times Asiana Airlines' hiring standard of 300 hours. Cabin crew probation is also longer at Korean Air Lines, at two years, compared with Asiana Airlines' one year.
In fact, the Korean Air Lines pilots' union did not attend the personnel policy briefing held the previous day, saying it was a unilateral announcement made without consultation with the union.
At AIRZETA Co., which previously set its seniority system based on airline hire date, internal conflict also continues over the issue of captain promotions.
The Korean Air Lines pilots' union, after its demand to include the seniority system issue in post-integration bargaining was not accepted, declared a breakdown in talks and is now moving to secure the right to strike.
Meanwhile, among groups such as Korean Air Lines' cabin crew, there are concerns that existing Korean Air Lines employees could be disadvantaged by the policy to separately manage the ratios of promotions and training for three years after integration.