Annual wage and collective bargaining between union and management at Seoul Metro, which operates Lines 1∼8 of the Seoul subway, was dramatically settled ahead of a planned strike. As the First Union withdrew its strike plan, the feared rush-hour subway chaos was averted.

Seoul Metro and the First Union, the Seoul Metro Union affiliated with the KCTU, said they signed a wage and collective agreement at around 6 a.m. on the 12th. Labor and management began the final main talks at headquarters in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, at 1 p.m. the previous day, then recessed after 40 minutes.

Failing to narrow differences until dawn, the union declared a breakdown in talks around 3:30 a.m. that day and announced a strike starting with the first train. However, after management presented a more advanced proposal, the two sides resumed talks at 5:40 a.m. and produced an agreement.

On staffing, the key issue in the talks, they agreed to hire 820 new employees, both to replace those reaching mandatory retirement and to expand hiring to fill vacancies. Wage increases will return to the 3 percent range in line with public institution guidelines. The two sides also agreed to conduct an organization-wide diagnosis to stamp out safety accidents and serious industrial accidents.

Kim Tae-gyun, head of the First Union, told reporters that they also secured agreement to resolve wage reduction issues, pursue normalization of ordinary wages, and begin next year to improve working conditions related to a cluster of hematologic cancer cases.

He said it was regrettable that labor and management had endured years of conflict and difficulty due to misguided restructuring by the city, and he urged the city and the corporation to shift to a management stance focused on safe operations rather than a downsizing-centered innovation plan.

A First Union official explained that there were twists at the end because management pushed for early implementation of moving the first train departure 30 minutes earlier and tried to convert paid leave into unpaid leave. The official said management withdrew the deterioration of the leave policy, and the change in the first train time was not included in the agreement due to disagreement between labor and management. The official added that there was also the issue of unifying the pay systems for train crews on Lines 1∼4 and 5∼8, and that they secured an agreement to unify them.

Following the First Union, the wage and collective agreement with the Second Union, the Seoul Metro Integrated Union affiliated with the FKTU, was also concluded at around 6:35 a.m. The agreement with the Third Union, the Right Union, is expected to follow suit.