Subway Workers Strike - Some Background
At four o'clock in the mornings of April 19, a memorial day of the student revolution in 1960, about one thousand subway unionists of drivers division declared the general strike at the rally held in Myungdong Cathedral.
Source : Korean
At four o'clock in the mornings of April 19, a memorial day of the student revolution in 1960, about one thousand subway unionists of drivers division declared the general strike at the rally held in Myungdong Cathedral. At seven o'clock in the evening of the previous day, subway workers separately gathers three depots by division, holding the divisional union assemblies to resolve the general strike, while the
unionists of driving division moved to Myungdong and prepared for the sit-in and camp-out struggle.
At the three depots, surrounded by the thousands of riot police, the workers continued rallies and cultural events, but around eleven o'clock, as more and more police forces were disposed, the leadership decided to moved the sit-in spot against the possible intrusion by the police. So at the midnight, thousands of unionists left the depots, and moved the campuses near it. On the other hand, the driving workers at Myungdong held the launching ceremony for the general strike, resolving
to continue the sit-in struggle at the spot until the day of victory.
Some Background
* Seouk Subway Workers Union's demands
- Withdrawal of unilateral restructuring programmes and immediate implementation of collective agreements violation of 14 clauses and unfulfilling collective agreements)
- Job creation through working hour reduction
(1) Reduction of weekly working hours from 44 hours to 40
(2) Job Creation to the amount of 1,792 workers(including 390 vacancies)
- Reform of Subway System
(1) Merger of the two subway corporations.
(2) Enlargement of government financial investment
(3) Reform of utilizing facilities and enhancement of safety
(4) Reform of governance structure
(5) Reform of organization structure
* Aggravated Working Conditions imposed by Seoul subway corporation
- Working hours : change 184 hours into 200 hours a month, extend working hours for 56 hours a week by adopting flexible working hour system
- Personnel : Reduction of 2,078 workers(18.1% against the fixed number of persons)
- Retirement Age : change 60 years old into 57 years.
- Abolition of a graduated system of retirement pay
- Abolition of the physical-strength-training pay and supporting pay for educational subsidies
- Reduction of trade union full-timers from 25 unionists to 11 ones
1999 / -0 / 4-
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