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Strikers ask for talks with railroad management

Published: 02 Dec. 2009, 23:03

Unionized rail workers shout slogans yesterday at a rally in Yeouido. Yesterday marked the seventh day of the railroad strike. [YONHAP]

The Korean Railway Workers’ Union publicly asked yesterday for negotiations or talks with the management without “preconditions” as their work stoppage entered its seventh day. The strike has paralyzed cargo shipments and disrupted passenger transportation.

A day after four government ministries urged railway workers to end the strike and officials said they would slap tough sanctions on unionists who participated in the strike, the railway workers’ union asked for help in mediating between the rail union and Korail.

“We’re pleading with the political, religious and civic circles to become involved in the railway’s labor-management issues so that the two sides can open a channel for talks that has been severed for a while,” union members said in a prepared statement. “Once there’s a channel for talks, the union will do its best to end the strike as soon as possible.”

The union said it faxed letters to Korail on Nov. 27 and 30 asking for negotiations. But if Korail didn’t want negotiations, the unionists said simple talks would be enough.

Korail already responded that it cannot accept the union’s suggestion. Korail said it “can only resume talks only if the union ends the strike first.”

“As the government is pressing the union to halt the strike and the public is turning against the unionists, the union is just simply trying to change this atmosphere,” an official at Korail said. He added that the union yesterday sued 60 Korail senior officials, including Korail CEO Huh Joon-young, on charges of conducting what it called “unfair labor practices.”

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs is preparing for a worst case scenario. It plans to train extra alternative workers capable of running trains during a future strike.

Korail estimated that 1,156 union members have returned to work. “The longer the strike continues, the greater the likelihood of more unionists quitting the walkout,” a Korail official said.

Yesterday’s cargo train operations stood at 25 percent of normal. Operation of Saemaeul and Mugunghwa passenger trains were running at 60 percent. A Korail official said the cargo operations will go up slightly starting today as unionists return to work.

Cement and other raw materials have been hard hit by the strike. Yun Hyeong-rin, head of the Euiwang office at Tong Yang Cement Corporation said his office is out of stocks. “Cement is delivered to metropolitan areas from the Samcheok headquarters [in Gangwon]. With the strike we’re seeing immense losses because it has increased the cost of delivery,” Yun said.

Meanwhile, Yeongdeungpo Police yesterday sought an warrant to detain a Korean Confederation of Trade Unions worker surnamed Kim on charges of disrupting a police investigation by running his car into a police official and injuring him as he was checking whether passersby were railway unionists who are on a wanted list.

By Kim Mi-ju, Chang Chung-hoon [[email protected]]