Union surveys about 2,900 employees at Industrial Bank of Korea

86.2 percent say they do not wish to work at relocated headquarters

Members of the Korean Financial Industry Union hold picket signs and chant slogans during a general strike rally near Gwanghwamun Station in Seoul on Friday, opposing the government's push to relocate state-run banks to the provinces and demanding the introduction of a four-and-a-half-day workweek.
Members of the Korean Financial Industry Union hold picket signs and chant slogans during a general strike rally near Gwanghwamun Station in Seoul on Friday, opposing the government's push to relocate state-run banks to the provinces and demanding the introduction of a four-and-a-half-day workweek.

As the government pushes ahead with plans to relocate public institutions outside the Seoul metropolitan area, a new survey shows that about 90 percent of employees at state-run Industrial Bank of Korea oppose moving the bank's headquarters to the provinces.

According to the Industrial Bank of Korea chapter of the Korean Financial Industry Union, 89 percent of respondents said they opposed the government's plan to relocate the bank's headquarters. The survey polled 2,866 employees from Aug. 26 through Thursday.

Among employees currently working at the headquarters, 95.5 percent opposed the relocation, as did 83.5 percent of branch employees.

The most common reason cited for opposing the move, given by 59.4 percent of respondents, was having to live apart from family.

Overall, 86 percent of respondents said they do not wish to work at the relocated headquarters.

The union argued that relocating the headquarters would, in fact, seriously disrupt workforce operations and efforts to help employees settle in the new location.

Of the respondents, 86.2 percent, or 2,471 people, said they would not want to work at the headquarters if it moved, while only 8.9 percent, or 254 people, said they would relocate together with their families if the headquarters moved to the provinces.

Earlier, the labor union of the Financial Supervisory Service conducted a similar survey of 1,538 employees. Asked whether they would consider leaving the organization if its headquarters relocated, 85.6 percent said they would consider doing so.

The government's policy is to strengthen the economic, cultural and international exchange functions of Seoul and the wider metropolitan area while minimizing the number of public institutions that remain there.

The government plans to review the criteria used to determine which institutions stayed in the metropolitan area during the first phase of relocation. It will take into account each institution's functions and work linkages before finalizing the list of institutions to be relocated in the fourth quarter of this year. Relocations are expected to begin in phases starting in 2027.


hyuk@heraldcorp.com