News

ING Life Korea union went on strike on the 31^st of July, after the announcement of the sale of the company, as the local management decided to implement a Business Contingency Plan in case of union strike, which is illegal and unfair labour practice.

Tension escalated as the union workers organized many meetings and rallies in front of the office and in the city centre. The Korean union contacted UNI Global Union asking for the support of the global trade union movement.

UNI Finance sent several letters to ING management in Korea as well as to the Head Office in the Netherlands as the company was clearly not respecting its Corporate Social Responsibility commitments. UNI is convinced that all ING workers should have the same rights, in Holland, Korea or any other country.

As the situation hadn’t changed, UNI and its Korean affiliate then launched a solidarity action asking all of the UNI affiliates to sign and send a solidarity letter to ING management. The action was a huge success, thanks to the support of various unions in the Americas, UK, Holland and Asia. In less than two weeks, more than 2,000 people had signed and sent the letter to ING top management.

The ING Management representatives suddenly received thousands of solidarity messages coming from all around the world. As a result of this global action and of the strong determination of the Korean unions, ING finally decided to go back to the table of negotiations and submitted a proposal to the unions.

ING Life Korea Union also decided to return to work on December 21st, after the company sale plan failed and a new agreement was negotiated.

According to this agreement, the company is committed to securing employment even in case of sale. If the new company, within 36 months of the take over, decides to implement a redundancy plan, this must be agreed with the union. When the company sale is done, a special bonus of two month salary will be paid to all employees.

It was also agreed that the same level of working conditions should be maintained.

We thank all of you for your support to the ING Korea campaign, which was crucial to make it successful !



If you need more information, please feel free to contact:



JayChoi

UNI-APRO Korea Desk Coordinator

jay.choi@uniglobalunion.org

jayfree24@gmail.com



Many thanks again for your support,

In solidarity,



The UNI Finance Team