A labor union for civil servants warned Tuesday that its members will stage a strike later this month in protest of the government plan to reform the civil service pension.
The Korean Government Employees’ Union suspended an internal vote on whether to approve a strike.
The union declared that its vote was virtually approved as the government blocked it from holding it.
The union’s spokesman, Jeong Yong-cheon, said unionized civil servants will go on a strike on April 24.
Jeong said it is hard to predict how many unionized workers will show up at the rally, though he said he feels that more will join as the risk for a reform materializes.
The union boasts some 140,000 members, about 14 percent of the country’s total civil servants.
A spokesman at the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs was not immediately available for comment.
The planned walkout comes amid a standoff between the government and civil servants over the pension service.
South Korea’s civil service pension has faced a looming crisis and caused a deficit of 12 trillion won ($11 billion) until last year, according to government data.
Previous presidents have delayed addressing the issue despite their knowledge of the current system as unsustainable.
President Park Geun-hye has asked civil servants to cooperate since the government will have to spend 10 billion won every day by next year to make up for the shortfall unless the parliament passes a bill meant to reform the civil service pension by early May. (Yonhap)
