Unionized rail workers to launch indefinite strike as wage talks break down
Workers inspect a cargo train in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap
Unionized workers of Korea Railroad Corp. said Wednesday they will go on an indefinite strike starting Thursday after negotiations over bonus pay and safety measures broke down.
The planned strike by the Korean Railway Workers' Union is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, with some 10,000 out of 22,000 union members expected to join the walkout.
The union has called for higher performance-based bonuses and improved safety measures, taking issue with the current compensation system that caps such bonuses at 80 percent of base pay.
Negotiations between the union and the management were called off after the union's demand over bonuses was not included as an agenda item for a meeting of the finance ministry's steering committee of public institutions.
"If there is no responsible pledge from the government to resolve the issue of normalizing performance bonuses by the end of this year, the Korean Railway Workers' Union will go on an indefinite general strike from 9 a.m. tomorrow," the union said.
While the union had also called for the integration of high-speed rail services as part of their demands, the government recently announced that high-speed KTX and SRT services will be integrated.