Workers at 10 companies apply to form multiple unions

Organized workers at around 10 companies submitted applications to set up multiple unions Friday, the first day of the new multiple union system.

Preparation also began on establishing additional unions at KT and Kumho Tires, indicating that multiple unions will be established in succession at a variety of companies.

A number of the new unions have no plan to join conventional unions of their companies or umbrella labor groups, so the domestic labor community, which is dominated by two umbrella organizations, is expected to undergo major change.

The six-member union of Daewoo Securities branches, a new body at the brokerage house with 3,300 staff, submitted an application to register itself to the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office’s Seobu branch in the city`s Mapo district Friday. The Daewoo union will officially be inaugurated as soon as it receives a certificate of establishment.

Also submitting applications were a new 13-member union at semiconductor maker KEC, which is based in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province with 1,083 employees, and a new 77-member union at Hanseong Taxi, which is based in Incheon with 203 employees.

Organized workers at Cheonnyeon Miso, a public bus company in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, submitted applications to set up one union with 105 members and another with 29 members. The company will have three unions, including the conventional one.

Telecom giant KT will also likely see multiple unions. A preparatory committee for the new KT union held an inauguration ceremony in front of KT headquarters in central Seoul Friday and decided to submit an application this month.

Multiple unions are also expected at Gwangju-based Kumho Tires. The organizing committee for the new union comprising Kumho workers at the Gwangju plant recently announced plans to set up multiple unions.

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