The Seoul Metro Union and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Union which earlier had suspended the strikes after a compromise deal will start their strike action again from October 19. Two unions had reached an agreement with Seoul City invested agencies that the introduction of the performance-based (annual) wage system will be decided by the agreement through negotiations between the labor and management and the dismissal of under-per...formed workers will not be implemented.
According to the Public Service and Transport Workers Union(PTWU), two subway unions will go on a strike from 9:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the afternoon on October 19. Mechanics will down tools from 1:00 until 5:30 in the afternoon. After two unions hold resolution rallies separately, they are going to join the general strike rally organized by the Public Service and Transport Workers Union(PTWU).
These two unions went on a strike on September 27 to reject the introduction of the performance-based wage system. On the 3rd day of the strike on September 29, unions reached an agreement through the collective bargaining with five Seoul City invested agencies and returned to work with the suspension of the collective action.
Despite the agreement of the collective bargaining and following suspension of the strikes, the central government kept on pressurizing the local government agencies to adopt the performance-based wage system. The Ministry of the Interior(MOI) made it clear that local public agencies funded by Seoul City government shall not be exceptions in an effort to spread the culture of performance-based appraisal.
The MOI warned that penalties such as wage freeze for next year and deduction in the agency management assessment will be consistently imposed to the agencies which failed to introduce the new wage system. This is the reason why two subway unions in Seoul were compelled to resume their resistance against the policy direction of the central government.
The Busan Subway Union is also going on a strike again, after it suspended its 4-day strike which started from September 27. A union official said that the union will be staging a strike for a few days again from October 21, if Busan Transportation Corporation does not show progressive attitudes toward the pending issues of the performance-based wage system, new Dadae Line manpower, wage negotiation and etc, and criticized that the Ministry's guideline on the performance-based wage system destabilizes the industrial relations everywhere.
reported by Ku Eun-hoi
edited in English by Kim Sung-jin