Jung Da-hyun is a reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues in Korea, including foreign residents, education, environment and politics. Driven by a deep interest in people’s stories, she focuses on investigative and feature reporting through direct interviews and field coverage. She received the Amnesty International Korea Media Award for her “Deepfake Crisis at Schools” series. Reach her at dahyun08@koreatimes.co.kr. Always open to hearing your stories.
Seoul Metro labor union to go on strike next month
The labor union of Seoul Metro holds a press conference in front of Seoul City Hall, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Jung Da-hyun
Unionized workers say upcoming strike is to oppose downsizing plan
The labor union of Seoul Metro announced, Wednesday, it will go on strike next month as it still opposes the company's workforce reduction plan after rounds of negotiations.
According to the union, the walkout will begin on Nov. 9, and the operation rate of Seoul Metro lines 1 to 4 will be at an average of 65.7 percent, while lines 5 to 8 will operate at 79.8 percent on weekdays. On weekends, all subway lines will be operating at 50 percent.
The strike is a response to the company’s management plan, which aims to lay off 2,211 workers by 2026. The union emphasizes that reducing the workforce does not guarantee the safety and maintenance of transportation services for the public.
“We reached agreements with the Seoul Metropolitan Government two times in 2021 and 2022 not to enforce coercive reduction in workforces. However, they are ignoring the agreement,” said Hyeon Jung-hee, a chairman of the Public Transport unions.
Prior to the decision, a vote within the labor union, which was concluded on Monday, showed 73.4 percent support for the strike. In addition, talks with the National Labor Relations Commission, which took place on Tuesday, failed to yield any mediation, further legitimizing the strike.
Commuters wait for the train at a Seoul subway station, Wednesday. Yonhap
During a press conference on Wednesday, the labor union requested the hiring of 771 workers for safety, emphasizing that workforce reduction is not an appropriate way to solve the financial deficit and stabilize the company's management.
The union highlights that the reduction plan, which includes outsourcing safety-related duties that should be operated constantly and persistently, will directly jeopardize safety.
In the reduction plan for 2023, out of 383 outsourcing duties, 75 percent are related to personnel at the subway’s general control center, which is crucial for maintaining safe operation.
The union argues that laying off critical safety duty workers and outsourcing the positions is not appropriate, emphasizing the need for an adequate allocation of human resources and facilities to operate the public transportation services efficiently and ensure citizens’ safety.
As per the 2008 ruling of the National Labor Relations Commission, employees working for the subway’s general control center are required to fulfill their duties even during the strike.
“To operate public transportation services properly and ensure citizens’ safety, the expenditure on human resources and facilities is necessary,” said Lee Yang-seob, chairman of the Seoul Metro labor union.
“The cost of the transportation welfare policy should be borne by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, not passing the burden to the workers and citizens.”
Meanwhile, concerns about the inconvenience are growing among citizens as the strike of the Seoul Metro labor union has been officially announced.
The four-day strike by the unionized workers of the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) generated 8.97 billion won ($6.64 million) in losses, according to a report submitted by KORAIL to Rep. Suh Bum-soo of the ruling People Power Party (PPP). The average operation rate of the trains during the strike last month was approximately 72 percent.
The upcoming strike next month will be called off if an agreement is reached in time, according to the labor union.