By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter


The pilots union of Korean Air Tuesday threatened to launch a strike on Thursday if management fails to compromise on wage increases and working conditions.

The looming strike by the pilots of South Korea’s largest air carrier will likely cause major disruptions to air transportation in the country.

``The pilots union will decide whether to take collective action as soon as voting results on the strike plan come out,’’ a union representative said.

The voting ended at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening and more than 70 percent of the 1,344 unionized pilots cast ballots.

The representative said that the union plans to hold last-minute negotiations with management Wednesday to reach a consensus on wages and other working-condition related issues.

``We will have a talk with management one last time to avert the strike. But we have no choice but to walk out if management keeps sticking to its initial offer, he said.

The pilot union and management have held about a dozen rounds of negotiations since Oct. 17.

The union demands a 6.5 percent hike in wages with a 50-percentage point increase in bonus, while the company is offeriing a 2.5 percent pay raise.

Pilots asserted that it does not make sense for the company to refuse to raise wages for its workers while earning high profits.

But management argued that despite high profits so far this year, the business outlook has worsened due to a series of external negatives such as surging oil prices and a potential avian influenza pandemic.

``Also, if we accommodate all their demands, then flight attendant and mechanics unions will follow the suit. We cannot meet all their demands,’’ the company official said.

Korean Air reported 268 billion won in profits in the third quarter of this year, up 25.5 percent from the same period last year.

In July, unionized pilots of Asiana Airlines walked out for 25 days, demanding a wage increase and an improvement in working conditions.

The strike, the longest ever in Korea’s aviation history, dealt a serious blow to the economy and the export industry, and disrupted the country’s air traffic during the peak summer holiday season.

It ended after the government invoked the right to conduct an emergency arbitration, which mandates workers to report back to their duties and bans the union from taking any form of collective action for 30 days.

leehs@koreatimes.co.kr