Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

Union calls subway strike
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2895108

Management says subways will be able to operate
September 20, 2008
The labor union of the Seoul Metro operating subway lines No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 yesterday declared a strike to protest the ongoing restructuring of the state-operated organization.Union members said they will start their strike action at 5 a.m. on Sept. 26Some 74 percent, or 6,247, of eligible union members approved the strike plan while 2,134 cast dissenting votes. This will be the first strike by the state-operated body after President Lee Myung-bak took his office in February.The management plans to fire a total of 2,088 workers accounting for about 20 percent of the total workforce by 2010. The Seoul Metro has suffered from an accumulated deficit of 5.45 trillion won ($4.8 billion) since 1981. The Lee administration has promised to carry out a series of restructuring of public enterprises. The angry labor union, however, has been against the restructuring plan since earlier this year. Under the direction of labor union chairman Kim Young-hu, who began his term in March, union members tried to obstruct the attendance of the company�s president as well as to occupy each office. They also held an anti-restructuring protest in front of Seoul City Hall in central Seoul. �The management�s action threatens our right to live,� the metro laborers said. In response to the union�s advance notice, managers said they were not very concerned about the warning. According to Korean laws, public service corporations such as Seoul Metro are required to keep as much of their service running as possible despite an active strike. Under the law, 65.7 percent of the total workers in charge of driving trains should be on duty during the weekday. In addition, managers said that they are considering recalling retired employees and reserve workers to the work in the field in order to operate the railways. By Park Sang-woo Staff Reporter [[email protected]]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I wonder if this strike will take the form of previous 'strikes', where the engineer slows down to the speed limit.

[Pooty]

In other news, all public transportation is free of charge Monday, Sept. 22nd. Enjoy one day of free rides. It's gonna be cramped.