Unionized pilots at Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-largest carrier, began a strike yesterday after negotiations with management failed. The airline said it canceled one domestic flight but expects few initial disruptions.
The walkout began at noon, union official Lee Sang-jun said. Asiana's unionized pilots have presented a wide range of demands to management, including more rest days, a greater say in management decisions and a higher retirement age.
"Until we achieve our demands, we'll continue the strike," Lee said, describing the possible duration of the walkout as "unlimited."
The strike comes as South Korea enters its peak summer-travel season. Asiana plans to utilize non-union pilots, any unionized pilots who don't strike and its foreign pilots to operate flights, as it did during a one-day walkout by 300 unionized pilots earlier this month. No disruptions were reported then.
Asiana has 839 pilots, with 516 belonging to the union, airline spokesman Jason Kim said. The total number of pilots includes 63 with foreign nationality, none of whom belong to the union, he said.
The union says it has 527 members.
Kim said the airline had to cancel one domestic flight yesterday so the pilot and co-pilot could replace ones that didn't show up on a flight scheduled from the southern city of Pusan to Beijing.
Earlier, Kim said the airline didn't expect any disruption to its domestic and international flight schedules during the first two to three days of the strike and little for the first two weeks.
"We won't have that much of a problem for two weeks," Kim said. After that, "we'll be facing some trouble shifting around the remaining pilots' schedules," he said.
The airline had 158 domestic, 116 international and 13 cargo flights scheduled yesterday, Kim said.
Asiana management and the union were still trying to reach a settlement after the strike began.
The airline's human resources director met union officials at company headquarters in Seoul. Asiana's president, C.H. Park, had intended to meet the union, Kim said, but that plan was canceled.
The meeting broke up without a resolution and another was planned for this morning, both Lee and Kim said.
The decision to strike was made after company officials refused to attend a meeting on Saturday to discuss pilots' demands for increased job security and reduced flying hours, said Lee Hack-ju, another union official.
Asiana's strike comes amid a work-to-rule slowdown launched this month by unionized pilots at Korean Air, the nation's largest carrier.
The pilots are asking for better benefits and job security, including extending the retirement age to 59 from the current 55. No major disruptions have been reported from the slowdown, which includes taxiing at slower speed on runways.
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