A crowded Chungmuro subway station on Line No. 3. at its evening rush hour on Wednesday. - Yonhap/The Korea Herald
SEOUL (Bloomberg): Workers at South Korea’s major subway operator ended a strike that caused disruptions in the capital after reaching a deal with management on corporate restructuring plans.
Services returned to normal on Thursday (Dec 1) as unionised employees returned following a one-day walkout, said state-run operator Seoul Metro.
Neither the company nor the Seoul Transit Corporation Labor Union provided details of any agreement, though the union wanted the government to scrap plans to shrink the workforce and instead hire more staff.
While the deal avoids prolonging the headache for Seoul commuters, other strikes threaten to cause more disruption and maintain the pressure on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration.
Unionised employees from Korea Railroad Corp. plan a nationwide walkout on Dec 2, demanding a larger workforce, better pay and measures to improve staff safety.
At the same time, unionised truckers have continued a strike after failing to reach agreement in a second round of talks with the government on Wednesday.
Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong raised the pressure on truckers by warning that the government would expand a back-to-work order for those in the oil refinery sector as some gas stations run out of fuel, Yonhap News reported.
