The Tamesis
December 9, 2025
Seoul— Seoul’s public transportation threats serious disturbance in the coming weeks as unionized employees on all metro lines and the city’s bus system phase a basic strike over wage rises and personnel scarcities.
Last settlements with monitoring are arranged to occur on Thursday, according to 3 unions of Seoul City, the driver of metro lines 1 to 8. Unions are requiring boosted hiring and greater earnings.
All 3 unions have actually finished the lawful treatments needed for the strike, which results from start on Friday. That increases the opportunity of the initial joint strike including all 3 teams, which with each other make up 86% of Seoul metro workers.
Participants of the Seoul Transport Firm union, which makes up 57% of all workers, think that Seoul Train’s strategy to dismiss 2,200 workers after quiting working with brand-new workers has actually caused work openings getting to a degree that intimidates safety and security and solution top quality.
The union is likewise requiring a 3% wage increase this year to be in accordance with federal government standards, while monitoring is preserving its 1.8% proposition.
The 3 unions have actually been opposing considering that December 1 versus functioning by the regulations, purely sticking to recommended downtime and doing just plainly needed jobs, therefore restricting functional adaptability. The activity has actually caused slower commute times throughout the network.
Individually, the union of City Line 9, which runs in between Eonju terminal and VHS Medical Facility terminal, likewise revealed a basic strike beginning on Friday, stating the line’s monitoring stopped working to accomplish its pledge to work with 55 extra employees.
The Seoul bus union has actually apparently started taking initial actions towards a possible strike. The union had actually formerly held off a strike the day prior to the 2026 Suneung suit, arranged for November 13.
The firm contacted bus drivers to pay debts of regular earnings and hold-up rate of interest after the Seoul High Court regulationed in October that routine benefits should be consisted of in regular wage computations.
