Bankers who insist on the right to eat lunch and the company's position concerned about customer inconvenience are tightly opposed.

Today (8th), the National Financial Industry Workers' Union (Financial Union) and the Financial Industry Employment Council (Employee Council) entered into negotiations on wages and collective agreements this year. The Financial Union's main demand for bargaining was the'need to use lunchtime at the same time'.

On this day, the financial union proposed to have lunch for each hour at each bank branch. Currently, all bank employees are eating alternately to keep working without closing the bank even during lunch.

The financial union pointed out that this type of operation prevented employees from properly using the mealtimes guaranteed under the Labor Standards Act. It means that if you are busy with work or have employees on vacation, you will not be guaranteed more rest. In fact, a 2017 survey found that the percentage of one hour of rest hours used by bankers was only 26%.

In order to reduce customer inconvenience, specific alternatives were also presented. This is a method to ensure that customers can visit a branch that is open at a desired time by operating lunch time not to overlap between branches close to each region.


The User Council is in a negative position to these needs. It is because of the concern that shutting down, or closing a branch, will cause inconvenience for office workers who have to take a break from lunch and work at a nearby bank. It is also predicted that if a customer is driven to a branch that is open at a specific time, the processing and waiting time will increase.

In response, the financial union said, “Most bankers cannot enjoy lunch properly.

​The Financial Union and the employers' council will discuss the lunchtime adjustment once again on the 10th at the 3rd industrial delegation negotiations.

This is'News Pick'.