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Seoul Metro union presents Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate with demands on staffing shortages and PSO legislation during Sinjeong depot visit
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Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Jeong Won-oh visited the Seoul Metro Sinjeong vehicle depot at around 5 a.m. Wednesday — the day before Labor Day — to encourage workers and hold a forum with the labor union.
Shin Yeon-tae, head of the Sinjeong inspection chapter of the Seoul Metro Labor Union, spoke first, saying that nearly 1,000 employees retire each year but new hiring consistently carries over into the following year, leaving staffing gaps on the ground. "If we are serious about workplace safety, new hires must come on time," he said. He also appealed for relief on parental leave replacement staffing, saying the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the corporation were blocking a government directive to hire substitutes for workers on parental leave.
Union chairman Kim Jeong-seop added that the Seoul Metropolitan Government was refusing to approve parental leave replacement hires even as the corporation absorbed management evaluation penalties as a result. He said Mayor Oh Se-hoon had set a target of cutting 5,605 positions and was blocking the replacement approvals to meet that goal.
Jeong said some rationalization of management was necessary but that efficiency measures must not come at the cost of safety. On the parental leave replacement issue, he said workers on leave could only take time off with peace of mind if substitutes were in place, and that without them, colleagues left behind would inevitably feel burdened. "This is a serious problem, and the fact that it is not being observed at the largest public corporation is truly surprising — it must be corrected," he said.
Union member Kim Dae-il, the second worker to speak, raised the issue of losses from free rides, saying that President Lee Jae Myung's recent move to restrict free transit use was only a supplementary measure and not a fundamental solution. He called on Jeong to develop a more structural remedy.
Jeong said free ridership accounted for such a large share of the corporation's overall deficit that it was placing severe pressure on operations. "Seoul city and the central government need to reach an agreement and structurally resolve this so that normal management of the Seoul Metro is not under constant strain," he said, pledging to tackle the issue if elected mayor.
Closing the forum, Jeong said that at a time when public transit should be expanding, the full burden seemed to be falling on the corporation and its employees, who serve as the backbone of mobility for Seoul residents. "Once I take office, I will take steps to ensure that policies supporting workers can emerge through labor-management consultations," he said.
After the forum, Jeong toured trains being prepared for service and visited the maintenance facility, meeting with staff along the way.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
