Allianz Life to Fire 52 Branch Managers

Allianz Life Insurance Co. has decided to fire 52 branch managers for joining a strike, at a personnel committee meeting held on Thursday.

An official of Allianz Life said, “Out of 159 branch managers who have failed to return to work until 9 a.m. Monday, a final deadline set by the company, we discussed a disciplinary measure against 80 branch managers first.” “We decided to lay off 52 branch managers who had not returned to work by the time the personnel committee meeting took place.” Meanwhile, the committee decided to give a warning to 28 branch managers who came back to work after the final deadline, but before the meeting.

Allianz Life will decide on the level of disciplinary action against the remaining 78 managers on March 28. As of 5 p.m. Thursday, 54 of them had not come back work.

However, it is not clear whether all of the branch managers the personnel committee decided to let go will actually be fired as a final review by the management committee on the decision is scheduled on May 1.

On the personnel committee’s ruling, the labor union argued, saying, “It is not illegal for the branch managers to participate in a strike, in view of precedents set by the Supreme Court.” The labor union plans to take a strong measure, such as filing a lawsuit, once disciplinary measures against the branch managers are confirmed.

The company has maintained that it is illegal for branch managers to participate in a strike as they are not entitled to be a member of the labor union in accordance with the collective agreement between labor and management. The Seoul office of the Labor Ministry also sent an official document to the labor union on March 14, which read, “The participation (of branch managers) cannot be protected by the law since it breaches the collective agreement."

Some 800 of Allianz Life went on a strike from Jan. 23 in a dispute over bonus payments.

peacechaos@donga.com