One rail strike solved, another one planned for Friday

A sign warning of a planned strike by railway employees is displayed at Seoul Station, central Seoul, on Thursday. [NEWS1]

After Seoul got through a metro strike that only lasted a day, Korean Railway Workers’ Union will go on a strike from 9 a.m. Friday.

KTX bullet trains, Mugunghwa, Saemaeul and tourist trains will be affected along with some subway services in Seoul.

The Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) manages metro lines 1, 3 and 4 with Seoul Metro. Korail operates 82 percent of trains on Line 1, 25 percent on Line 3, and 30 percent on Line 4. It also operates the Gyeongui-Jungang and Suin-Bundang lines.

Its employees are demanding a wage increase and withdrawal of a plan to shrink the workforce. They are also asking to stop a plan to shift some functions such as facility maintenance from Korail, which they believe is a move by the government to privatize rail companies.

It will be the railway union's first strike since November 2019.

Railways are legally required to provide 60 to 70 percent of their operations during strikes. Yet a scaling down of operations is inevitable along with delays.

During the 2019 strike, the operation rate of KTX trains decreased to 70 percent of the normal level, while operations of freight trains fell to 30 percent.

This could cause a crisis in industrial logistics on top of an ongoing cargo truckers strike. A lot of industries rely on cheap railway logistics.

The railway union has been performing a work-to-rule strike, a form of protest to slow down labor participation, since Nov. 24.

Commuters and people planning pleasure trips are concerned.

"I booked a KTX train from Seoul to Busan for Dec. 2, but got a message yesterday that the train was canceled," Oh Ye-won, a bank worker in Gwanghwamun, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. She booked a bus ticket instead.

High school students taking college entrance essay and oral exams in the coming week could also be affected. Exams are scheduled at Konkuk University, Kyunghee University and Chung-Ang University this weekend, and some students come from the countryside to take them.

The Ministry of Transport said it will find 645 people to drive trains and boost alternative modes of transportation such as buses and planes.

On Wednesday, the two unions of Seoul Metro went on a strike after labor negotiations, but a deal was reached in a day.

Subway lines 1 through 8 were operating normally as of 5:30 a.m. Thursday, which is when the metro opens.

During final negotiations, management agreed not to go through with a plan to reduce workers, accepted some safety-related demands and agreed to a 1.4 percent raise this year.

Seoul Metro mobilized retired employees and non-unionized workers as replacements between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Wednesday, preventing serious disruptions to rush hour services.

More chaos and travel delays were reported during the evening rush hour.

According to Seoul Metro, subways on lines 1 to 4 were delayed for a considerable amount of time Wednesday evening.

As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, Line 1 was delayed for 10 to 20 minutes, while Line 2 was delayed for 27 to 33 minutes, according to Seoul Metro. Staff and police were dispatched to Gangnam Station on Line 2 to control crowds.

Line 3 saw delays of 25 to 28 minutes, while Line 4 was delayed for 10 to 18 minutes as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]