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

The bank's unionized workers staged a one-day strike from 9 a.m. as previously announced. The walkout, the first one in 19 years, crippled operations at more than one thousand bank branches nationwide.

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

Though the two sides have held negotiations since last year, they have failed to narrow differences on a range of issues, including higher bonuses and the introduction of a peak wage system. 

The management reportedly proposed that it would pay a 300 percent bonus as the union requested if the union accepted the management's proposals on other issues. The union is said to have rejected the proposal, however.