(Incheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Cheon Jeong-in = As the Airport Railroad was on the verge of a strike for the first time since its opening, emergency measures were put in place to prepare countermeasures.
According to the Airport Railroad and the Airport Railroad branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Public Transport Workers' Union on the 13th, the union began a struggle to comply with the law from the first train operation the previous day.
The union, which secured the right to labor disputes due to the breakdown of collective wage negotiations, began industrial action by inducing delays while adhering to regulations, such as maintaining stopping times at stations with few passengers or sufficiently exercising rest rights.
It was found that the train was delayed by about 3 to 4 minutes during commuting time the previous day due to the union's struggle to comply with the law.
The union plans to decide whether to go on strike through additional negotiations on the 15th.
The Airport Railroad is monitoring the situation of compliance struggles and is operating a response system, such as deploying a standby engineer.
In addition, emergency transportation measures are being prepared in case the legal compliance struggle turns into a strike.
The Airport Railroad is an essential maintenance business and must maintain minimum functionality even during a strike, but passenger inconvenience due to reduced service is expected to be inevitable.
In response to this, the Airport Railroad is preparing to operate as usual during rush hours (peak hours) through essential maintenance personnel.
It is expected that the operation rate of 71% for regular trains and 57% for direct trains can be maintained during non-commuting hours.
The main issues in the Airport Railroad wage and collective agreement (collective wage agreement) include improving treatment of lower-level positions and recruiting safety personnel.
The union claimed, “The resignation rate of driving workers is high, and the remaining workers are filling the positions left behind by these workers,” adding, “The vicious cycle of fatigue accumulating and deciding to quit again is repeating.”
In particular, it was explained that the Geomam main line inspection workers work alone all year round, and the engine drivers drive long distances of 340 km a day and drive for up to 4 hours continuously.
In response to this, the Airport Railroad said it would try to narrow the gap with the union.
However, Airport Railroad explained that in accordance with the government implementation agreement, the company must distinguish between matters to be decided on its own and matters requiring government consultation. In particular, the position is that there are not many financial resources available as operating expenses are supported through negotiations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport once every three years.
In addition, the union's demand to secure financial resources to improve treatment conditions separately from the wage increase (operating cost) must be discussed with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Airport Railroad explains that it is pushing for reflection of demands related to staffing in operating cost negotiations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
An Airport Railroad official said, "The company has negotiated a total of eight times and has specified the labor cost increase rate by suggesting a maximum of 4.9%. Even during the compliance struggle, we will keep the window for dialogue open and discuss in good faith to reach an amicable agreement."
