Railway Union Postpones General Strike Today... All Trains Operating Normally (Comprehensive)

On the 11th, passengers are boarding the Mugunghwa train at Daejeon Station. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The National Railroad Workers' Union has decided to postpone its strike and observe the government's proposal. As a result, all trains are operating normally, and the anticipated commuter traffic chaos has been avoided.

At around 12:20 a.m. on this day, Korail announced, "The railroad union has postponed the strike that was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today," and added, "All trains will operate as usual."

The government has reportedly conveyed its intention to submit a phased normalization plan to the Public Institution Management Committee, under which the performance bonus, the main issue in the negotiations, will be paid at 90% of base salary next year and at 100% starting from 2027.

The union has been demanding that the performance bonus standard, currently set at 80%, be raised to 100%-the same level as other public institutions.

The union plans to decide on its future course of action after observing the committee's decision at 2 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, Korail management issued an appeal the previous day, stating, "Due to the fact that the bonus standard was revised one year later than the 2010 government budget guidelines, employees have been subjected to discrimination in performance bonus criteria, resulting in a continued decline in real wages and lifetime income for all staff. Normalization of the performance bonus is urgently needed."

In 2009, the Lee Myung-bak administration promoted public institution advancement measures, such as reducing starting salaries for university graduates. Korail's labor and management strongly opposed these measures, leading to severe conflict and a wage agreement that was signed a year later than those of other public enterprises. For this reason, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance set Korail's performance bonus calculation standard at 80% of monthly salary, rather than 100% as applied to other companies. This 80% standard was maintained throughout the 2010s, briefly raised to 100% between 2018 and 2021 through labor-management agreement, but reverted to 80% following a Board of Audit and Inspection recommendation and a decision by the Public Institution Management Committee.