Subway Unions Go On Strike in Four Major Cities

As subway unions in the four major cities of Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Daegu decided to go on strike at four in the morning on July 21, citizens who use the subway will experience inconveniences.

A railway unions’ association held a news conference at the Korea Press Center located in Jung-gu, Seoul on Tuesday afternoon and said, “The five subway labor unions across the nation have no choice but to go on general strike as scheduled on July 21.” It also said that “compulsory arbitration or intervention by law enforcement will have no effect.”

The labor unions planned the strike as negotiations with management did not go smoothly. They want management to pay higher wages and to hire more workers because of the recent introduction of the five-day workweek.

The disputes between the subway trade unions in Seoul and Incheon and their employers have been submitted for arbitration, which stipulates that they cannot strike for 15 days. As it is illegal for them to be on a strike now, employers can hire substitute workers and the government can restrain walkouts.

However, the unions in Busan and Daegu can wage legitimate strikes because conditional arbitration and abandonment of arbitration were decided on for Busan and Daegu respectively on Tuesday.

Assuming that the strikes will be carried out as planned, each local government and subway corporation announced contingency transportation measures such as the deployment of non-union members and public service providers, operation of extra buses, and extension of bus operating times.

As a countermeasure to walkouts by subway unions, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation set up an ad-hoc office yesterday that will monitor contingency plans in the four cities. The ad-hoc office will support municipal countermeasures and inform the public.

The police will deploy 6,170 officers to major subway facilities including terminals, stations, and substations to ensure normal operation of subway services, and police officers will also accompany engineers on duty.

Kang-Myoung Chang Wan-Bae Lee tesomiom@donga.com roryrery@donga.com