Posted on : Feb.28,2006 01:51 KST Modified on : Feb.28,2006 01:56 KST

The railway union has decided to go on strike March 1. Expect an all-out confrontation between the union and the government and transportation difficulties. Subway workers are planning a solidarity strike, so the situation could spread.

As the strike gets closer there are increasing calls for restraint citing the upheaval in national transportation it would cause. That argument is not entirely without merit but it is right now, when the issues are in the forefront, that there needs to be work towards fundamental solutions. Matters will only get worse if structural problems are neglected simply because there are no simple solutions.

Union members' main demands are resolving the massive debt incurred in the course of constructing the high speed rail, and more "public service" on the part of the rail system such as greater discounts for the poor and handicapped. Those are not issues easy to settle on in the course of union-company negotiations, but the biggest problem is the huge debt. The union claims that the government left the rail company with W11 trillion in debt, and the company itself says it can only have normal operations if the government assumes the W4.5 trillion in debt from the high speed rail project. They are not wrong to say that since the government pursued the project knowing quite well that it would leave a lot of debt, the government should be responsible for it. One way to go about this would be for the government to provide some clear plans or principles for resolving the debt on the premise there is a certain amount of work on the part of the company.

Some argue that if the company's debt is going to be forgiven it might as well be privatized, but that ignores important facts. It would be hard to find a precedent where a company was privatized without its debt being canceled, and in foreign cases there were many negative side effects such as less "public service" because of debt-ridden operations and accidents and other problems resulting from cost cutting. The suggestion is not one to be made hastily.


There are other issues as well, such as the reinstatement of laid off workers and protections for irregular workers. If "transportation mayhem" is to be avoided, the government and the rail company need to negotiate responsibility.

The Hankyoreh, 28 February 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]

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