Seoul Subway Union to Hold 2nd General Strike on 22nd... Traffic Disruptions Inevitable

Second Warning Strike Following September 9-10
Schedule Revealed in Press Conference on the 15th

The Seoul Metro Workers' Union, which operates lines 1 to 8 of the Seoul subway, will launch a second general strike on the 22nd.

The Seoul Metro Workers' Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Public Transport Workers' Union held a Central Dispute Countermeasure Committee meeting on the 14th and decided on the schedule for the second strike. The union will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. on the 15th in front of Seoul City Hall. The scheduled date for the second general strike set by the union is the 22nd. Details of the strike will be disclosed at the press conference.

On the 9th, when the Seoul Metro Lines 1 to 8 operated by Seoul Metro Union began a two-day warning strike, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions Public Transport Union and the Seoul Metro Union held a general strike rally in front of Deoksugung Palace in Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

The union stated, "After the first warning strike, we continuously urged Seoul City and the corporation for a change in stance and sincere dialogue, but Seoul City and the corporation suddenly shifted to a strong response policy," adding, "The union repeatedly demands measures regarding retirements scheduled for this December. However, the management has not presented any measures concerning the safety personnel shortage that will occur in just a month and a half."

The corporation and the union have consistently shown disagreements over the workforce reduction plan. At the final negotiation on the 8th, the corporation proposed an additional agreement including ▲660 new hires, which is about 270 more than before ▲wage erosion resolution ▲increase in joint labor-management event funds and special rewards, but the corporation union did not accept this and conducted a warning strike from the first train on the 9th until 6 p.m. on the 10th. Since the strike, the labor and management have not yet scheduled the main negotiations.

The strike will not include the Seoul Metro Integrated Union under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) or the MZ generation union called the Correct Union. However, the number of union members within the corporation is overwhelmingly in favor of the corporation union, with about 11,000 members, compared to about 2,800 in the Integrated Union and about 2,000 in the Correct Union.

Seoul City is taking a tough stance. In a statement on the 9th, the city said, "We will respond firmly without compromise to strikes that express union dissatisfaction at the expense of citizen inconvenience," adding, "We will use this opportunity to eradicate long-standing bad practices."

As the corporation union enters a strike for the second consecutive year, traffic disruption is inevitable. During the warning strike held on the 9th and 10th, train operation rates were maintained at 100% during the morning rush hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in accordance with the essential service agreement between labor and management. However, during the evening rush hours (6 p.m. to 8 p.m.), the operation rate dropped to 87% compared to normal times, causing congestion.

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