Railway Workers Return to Work, Government to Let Go 624 Unionists

The Korean Railway Workers Union called off the four-day strike and began to return to work on July 1, ending the confrontation with the government that caused disruptions in the transportation and logistics system.

˝We decided to end our strike because of the public inconvenience it is causing,˝ Chon Hwan-kyu, head of the Korean Railway Workers` Union, said during a news conference held at the office of the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) in Youngdeung-po, Seoul on July 1. ˝Workers will return to work by 8:00 p.m. today.˝

˝We could not put our union member in danger of losing their jobs, and we could not find a reason to continue with the railway reform bill already passed at the National Assembly,˝ Chon explained.

The union held a vote among workers who remained off the job at its regional branch offices in Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Gyeongju beginning at 10 a.m. Of 4,070 who participated in the vote, 2,655, or 65.2%, were in favor of returning to work.

Regardless of the union`s decision to end its strike, the government is set to punish those who led the illegal strike and union members who refused to go back to work until the deadline. It dismissed 624 unionists and further plans to punish 104 who organized and led the strike.

With railway workers back to work, the government expects that operations of passenger trains and freight trains will be normalized in the morning and in the afternoon of July 2 respectively.

Meanwhile, KCTU has decided to push for a general strike attended by some 100,000 of its members from about 100 business units at 1:00 p.m. on July 2 as scheduled.

The federation will demand that the government limit weekly work hours to 40 hours; compensate for those suffering from muscle and bone-related diseases; and guarantee regular employee status for contract workers.

The Federation of Freight Workers Unions also plans to hold a member vote on July 6 to decide whether to go on strike, urging the government to implement the agreement reached during the negotiations.

Jae-Seong Hwang Kyung-Joon Chung jsonhng@donga.com news91@donga.com