LH Union Threatens General Strike Against Spin-Off, Enters Dispute Procedures

The labor union of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) has announced that its 8,000-plus members will launch a general strike if the government pushes ahead with plans to split and dismantle the corporation.

Participating in a joint press conference held this morning by the joint response committee of public sector labor unions under the two major umbrella labor organizations near Cheong Wa Dae's Sarangchae in Seoul, the LH union voiced its opposition to the government's public institution function reforms and LH spin-off initiative.

"All 8,000 union members have already entered dispute procedures, including a general strike," the union stated. "If the government ultimately pushes through with a unilateral and hasty separation plan, we will wage an all-out struggle against the government in solidarity with the 550,000 public workers belonging to the joint committee of the two major umbrella unions."

The union argued that spinning off LH could instead disrupt efforts to expand housing supply.

According to the union, LH's achievement rate compared to its housing supply plans hovered around 100% from 2017 to 2020. However, following the implementation of government innovation measures in the wake of the 2021 employee real estate speculation scandal, the rate plummeted to 38.3% in 2021, 44.1% in 2022, and 50.9% in 2023.

"Although the rate recovered to 100% in 2024, the issue of the LH Reform Committee pushing for a spin-off, which resurfaced starting last year, has driven performance back down to 84.3%," the union said.

It added, "Following the unilateral announcement of innovation measures in 2021, the number of employees taking leaves of absence or resigning has hovered around 1,000 every year, with 908 in 2021, 931 in 2022, 821 in 2023, 1,012 in 2024, and 1,027 last year."

The union demanded that the government restore its unilateral innovation measures to their original state, rebuild its workforce, and establish a labor-government consultative body to verify the impact of a forced LH spin-off on housing supply and debt resolution.

It also urged the government to explicitly codify its responsibility for policy execution outcomes.

Regarding LH's 174 trillion won debt, the union claimed, "It is a 'policy-driven debt' accumulated in the process of supplying public rental housing. Rather than splitting the organization, what is needed is expanded government financial support and improvements to the rental fee structure."

Jang Hyo-soo, co-chair of the LH union, said, "The public institution reform measures announced by the government on September 3 contained neither communication with frontline workers nor respect for the foundation of policy execution."

He criticized, "While demanding the largest housing supply in history, the government has cut personnel and forced us to manage a debt-to-equity ratio of 200%, and now it says it will 'split us into a factory that makes bread and a factory that manages it.' The target of reform is not LH, but the government."

(Photo: Provided by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) Union, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.