The KT labor and management have revised a workforce reallocation plan and reached an agreement with the primary labor union, according to reports from the telecommunications industry on the 17th. The main focus of the agreement is to enhance the treatment for employees who are transferred or take voluntary retirement.
Negotiations took place between the two parties from the night of the 16th until the early morning, resulting in modifications to the existing large-scale workforce reallocation plan and an expansion of compensation measures.
The labor and management have decided to remove the original target of approximately 4,000 employees for transfers or voluntary retirement. Furthermore, they have agreed to provide an additional “special voluntary retirement payment,” increasing it by up to 100 million KRW per person. The original plan to give 70% of the basic salary and 20% of career transition support payment to those who have been relocated to a subsidiary for more than 10 years has been revised to a 30% career transition support payment.
Another key point of agreement is to maintain the welfare benefits for employees transferred to subsidiaries similar to those at KT headquarters and to extend the contract term for temporary employees from two years to three years.
However, the KT New Labor Union criticized this agreement, stating that the restructuring plan, which was warned against even in the National Assembly, has passed under the pretense of a labor-management agreement.
Previously, KT’s board had approved a plan on the 15th to establish two new subsidiaries, KT OSP, responsible for line communication facility design and customer transmission tasks, and KT P&M, responsible for design and maintenance of power facilities within the station, transferring employees from headquarters.
For employees who do not wish to transfer, a special voluntary retirement is offered. The scale of workforce adjustment through spinoffs and voluntary retirement is reported to be approximately one-third of all KT employees, or about 5,700 people.
A KT representative stated that discussions with the union are still ongoing.