Choo Seung-woo, Seoul City Council Member, "Can Oh Se-hoon's 'Seoul Transportation Corporation Management Efficiency' Guarantee Citizen Safety?"

Seoul Mayor Oh Orders Stronger Management Efficiency Measures in Response to Seoul Metro's Workforce Reduction and Outsourcing Plan... Similar to Management Innovation Efforts Since 2007... Concerns Over Risk Outsourcing Recurrence... Councilor Chu Seung-woo Calls for Eradication of Vicious Cycle Disguised as Efficiency and Urgent Countermeasures

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] As Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has ordered Seoul Metro Corporation to prepare a more intensive management innovation plan, concerns have been raised that focusing solely on 'cost reduction' and 'management efficiency' could lead to a recurrence of the outsourcing of risks similar to the past Guui Station accident.

Choo Seung-woo, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party, Seocho 4), recently claimed that according to Seoul Metro Corporation's management innovation plan, 1,108 personnel will be reduced by streamlining operations by sector, and 431 personnel will be cut by outsourcing non-core tasks to subsidiaries and external specialized institutions. This amounts to about 10% of the total workforce, totaling 1,539 people.

However, this management innovation plan is very similar to the Seoul Metro (the predecessor of Seoul Metro Corporation) management innovation plan, which was actively promoted under the pretext of 'cost reduction' and 'management efficiency' since Mayor Oh's inauguration in 2007, including private outsourcing services and spin-offs.

In the past, Seoul Metro outsourced tasks and personnel together for four years starting in 2008 to improve management efficiency, conducting private outsourcing under conditions that guaranteed the salaries and retirement benefits of transferred employees as incentives for job transfers.

During this process, core safety tasks such as Platform Screen Door (PSD) operation and vehicle maintenance were outsourced to the private sector, weakening the safety field, and the establishment of outsourcing companies that forced the mandatory employment and special treatment of retirees caused the current 'Mefia (Metro Mafia)' problem.

Outsourcing companies continuously secured contracts from Seoul Metro in exchange for bearing labor costs and labor-management burdens, but they resolved labor cost burdens by reducing wages for non-regular and young workers. This became an 'efficient' subcontracting structure that outsourced citizen safety at a low cost, ultimately leading to the tragic deaths of three young workers maintaining platform screen doors.

To prevent the vicious cycle disguised as 'efficiency' from repeating, drastic measures are needed. However, the recent management innovation plan set by the corporation focuses mainly on personnel reduction and outsourcing similar to the past, raising concerns about the possibility of a recurrence of 'outsourcing of risks.'

Former Mayor Park Won-soon recognized the risks of outsourcing and converted seven subway safety tasks to direct management. As a result, there have been no fatal accidents among subway operation and maintenance workers, earning positive evaluations for securing citizen safety, which had been neglected until then.

On the 29th of last month, during the 301st regular session's administrative questioning, Councilor Choo Seung-woo stated, “Have we not learned from past experiences that forgetting the nature of Seoul Metro Corporation, which must prioritize safe operation and public interest, and focusing only on management efficiency undermines citizens' lives and safety?” He pointed out, “While management innovation that meets citizens' expectations and standards is undoubtedly necessary, there must never again be a disguise of such plans as management innovation when their side effects are clearly foreseeable and similar to past plans.”

He also suggested, “Instead of reckless restructuring, please seek new self-help measures from a fresh perspective, such as utilizing the excellent existing railway network infrastructure of the corporation for logistics platform businesses.”

In response, Mayor Oh said, “While I do not want safety to be sacrificed for this management efficiency, since management efficiency must be achieved, we will introduce advanced management techniques to ensure citizen safety,” and added, “We will also strive to prepare self-help measures aimed at new revenue businesses.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.