[Inside Chodong] The Vicious Cycle of "Dramatic Compromises" in Transportation Strikes Must End

The repeated strikes by Seoul’s subway and bus systems starkly reveal the vulnerabilities of the public transportation service. In the process of demanding wage increases and job security, labor unions routinely hold “the feet of the citizens” hostage. For taxpayers, this appears not only shameless but also as a form of intimidation.

This year, an unprecedented situation has been foreshadowed, with both subways and city buses preparing to strike simultaneously. While subways, designated as an “essential public service,” require substitute workers to be deployed during a strike, there is no such contingency for buses, leaving the city completely helpless if both go on strike.

The subway strike is set to be the first-ever “joint strike by three unions.” Even the third union (the Correct Labor Union, also known as the Millennials & Gen Z Union), which had previously distanced itself from the more hardline unions and prioritized pragmatism, has now turned away. Following the first and second unions, the third union also secured “legal strike rights” just before the past weekend.

The Seoul city bus union can also launch a strike at any time. Due to the breakdown of mediation by the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission, 61 out of 64 city bus company unions have already secured the right to strike since April. These are the same unions that had threatened to strike right up to the eve of this year’s College Scholastic Ability Test, though the crisis was ultimately averted.

However, strikes by subway and bus workers are nothing new. Each year, unions demand wage increases and job security, while management insists on sound finances and management innovation, with both sides ultimately settling for a last-minute “dramatic agreement”-a temporary fix.

This time is no different. In the case of the subway unions, each union is demanding a wage increase of 3.4% to 5.2%, exceeding the government’s guideline of 3%. For city buses, the core issue in the ongoing negotiations, which have been contentious since April due to disputes over base pay, is also “wages.”

The root cause of the vicious cycle, in which the burden of strikes is shifted onto citizens, is that both labor and management fail to fully grasp the company’s management situation.

Let’s look at the financial situation. As of the end of June, Seoul Metro’s debt exceeds 7.7 trillion won. With a debt ratio of 94%, the company pays more than 400 million won in daily interest. Although the bus system has been operated under a quasi-public system since 2004, it is no different. Studies show that the cumulative financial support provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government since introducing the quasi-public system has surpassed 6 trillion won.

Since citizens have borne the cost of transportation deficits, both labor and management must endure painful management reforms. In the case of the subway, if the transition to a super-aged society leads to annual losses of hundreds of billions of won due to free rides, workforce reductions and restructuring become unavoidable. Under these circumstances, calls not only for job security but also for expanding new hires lack persuasiveness.

Executives, who have forced employees to share the pain while themselves falling into “moral hazard,” also need to improve their ethical standards to restore trust. The recurring scandals and misconduct among management, coupled with a tendency to “protect their own,” inevitably undermine their position in negotiations with the unions.

From now on, both sides must come together to discuss effective reform measures and self-rescue plans. For the subway operator, this could start with concrete implementation of the management innovation plan announced in 2021. For city buses, it means introducing a new financial support system that ensures sustainability. Apologies for holding citizens hostage during strikes and measures to prevent recurrence are also necessary.

As a word of caution, the upcoming local elections, now just six months away, must not become a variable in these strikes. If unions attempt to increase pressure on the Seoul Metropolitan Government by heightening citizen inconvenience ahead of the elections, and management tries to step back by claiming the city is the real negotiating party, the resulting agreement will inevitably be the worst-case scenario.