"There Is No Void in Treatment” All Big 5 University Hospitals’ Wage Negotiations Concluded

As Seoul National University Hospital was the last of the Big 5 university hospitals to finalize the ‘wage negotiations,’ the concerning void in hospital treatment did not occur.

Severance Hospital, Seoul Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center and Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital all have already concluded wage negotiations.

Seoul National University Hospital union and the hospital’s management finalized wage negotiations late in the night of November 25th.

The main agreements are a 1.4% increase in wages with respect to the total amount, strengthening public medical care for child patients, response to the climate crisis, improving working conditions for shift workers, and reinforcing manpower (14 at the headquarters and 47 at Boramae Hospital).

Previously, in August, the union of Severance Hospital signed this year's agreement, which included a 4% increase in base salary, incentives of 500,000 won, building welfare funds of 200 million won for partner companies, and a pilot project for the 4-day work week.

The pilot project for the four-day work week will start in two wards in the Shinchon branch and one in the Gangnam branch and run for one year from the starting date. 5 workers from each ward will participate simultaneously, and 1.5 additional workers added per ward.

An official from Severance Hospital said, “The main issue was the wage adjustment plan (10% of the total amount) considering the pilot project, and it was decided the details would be confirmed through labor-management consultations later.”

In August, Seoul Asan Medical Center also agreed on a wage increase of 4.02% of the total amount (3% of base salary), higher than last year's agreement, and Samsung Medical Center, which has no union among the big 5 hospitals, also completed wage negotiations through the employee council.

Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital also recently concluded a collective bargaining agreement.

An official from this hospital said, “We agreed on a 5.3% increase in total wages (4% in base salary, 1% hourly wage and 0.3% lump sum wage at the higher-level general hospital), and an improvement in the number of workers using unpaid leave. However, due to the ongoing strike at a single branch hospital, the details in the agreement were not made official.”

[WIKI KOREA=Cho Eun, Reporter]