“Regular Services Resumed for All Trains” Korail Labor and Management Reach Last Minute Agreement

A notice announcing the strike by the railway workers’ union is posted at Seoul Station in Jung-gu, Seoul on December 1. Han Su-bin

After a last-minute tug-of-war, labor and management of the Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) concluded their negotiations. The labor union canceled a strike scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Friday, and they have resumed the regular operation of all trains as well as the Seoul Metro lines 1, 3, and 4.

The final agreement will be drawn up after a meeting of the union’s extended walkout committee and a general meeting of union members at 3 p.m. Friday.

Korail and the Korean Railway Workers’ Union, a member of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union, announced that they succeeded in drawing up a tentative agreement at 4:30 a.m., about thirty minutes before the departure of the first train (5 a.m.).

Since April, the railway union had been negotiating with management, asking the company to introduce a point system for promotions, to raise wages by 188,000 won a month, to exclude the increased wages from labor expenses according to the court decision on the payment of ordinary wages, and to maintain the current criteria for performance-based pay. The union also opposed any reduction in workforce and the privatization of rail services and asked the company to increase safety-related personnel.

Labor and management began discussions at 4:20 p.m. December 1, one day before the strike, but the meeting ended in twenty minutes with the two sides failing to narrow their differences. The union said, “We are closing the gap on the introduction of the point system for promotions, which was one of the main issues,” and added, “The introduction of the point system was not one of the reasons why the negotiations collapsed.”

However, even after the negotiations were suspended, the two sides remained in their offices, making last-minute preparations for talks, which resumed seven hours later at 11:50 p.m. The negotiation was resumed upon request from Korail. A Korail representative announced, “Full-fledged negotiations began at 1 a.m.”

Reportedly, the negotiations bore results on key issues, including the wage increase and the promotion point system, acceptable to both parties. Initially, Korail insisted that the company could not exceed the range set in the wage increase guidelines by the Ministry of Economy and Finance--1.4% of this year’s total wage. The company also refused labor’s demand to exclude the increased amount of the ordinary wage from labor expenses claiming it went against the finance ministry guidelines.