SNU Hospital workers agree to end strike

The labor union at one of the largest general hospitals in Seoul reached a tentative collective agreement with the management on Monday, ending a 12-day strike.

Union officials of the Seoul National University (SNU) Hospital said that the agreement, among other things, calls for a 1.3 percent wage raise and a transition of 100 nonregular workers to regular employees by 2014. The deal requires approval from union members.

The trade union said all striking workers will return to work at 5 a.m. Tuesday as both sides have reached an agreement.

Nearly a third of the union's 1,500 members working at the hospital's three branches had been on their first strike in six years since Oct. 23, demanding a pay raise and better working conditions.

Doctors did not participate in the strike because they are not union members.

(Yonhap News)