Union workers at KB Kookmin Bank, a major South Korean lender, will launch a general strike on Tuesday after negotiations with the management fell through. 

The bank's union workers said they will stage a one-day strike from 9 a.m. as previously announced. The walkout, the first one in 19 years, is expected to cripple operations at more than one thousand bank branches across the country.

The union and management said early Tuesday that they resumed talks on Monday night but the negotiations collapsed.

The two sides have held negotiations since last year but failed to narrow differences on the issue of a raise of bonuses, the introduction of the peak wage system and others. 

The management reportedly proposed that they will pay a 300 percent bonus as the union requested, on condition that the union will accept the management's proposals on other issues. However, the union is said to have rejected the proposal.