Parties reach tentative agreement in early-morning talks Friday

Deal covers wage hike, staffing increase, improved conditions for public-service workers

A Busan metro Line 1 train [Busan Transportation Corporation]
A Busan metro Line 1 train [Busan Transportation Corporation]

Busan Transportation Corporation and its union reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement, allowing the city's urban rail network to resume normal service from the first train Friday.

The corporation said the two sides concluded more than nine hours of final negotiations at the welfare hall of the Nopo depot — which began Thursday afternoon — and reached a tentative agreement at around 12:48 a.m. Friday.

The talks had been difficult, with the two sides at odds over the scale of new hires, among other issues. The union declared the negotiations had broken down around 9 p.m. Thursday and had been set to launch a strike from the first train Friday.

After further talks, however, the two sides agreed on a 3.5 percent wage increase in line with government guidelines, a recommendation to Busan city to hire 29 additional workers to fill on-site vacancies, payment of this year's annual leave allowance and performance bonuses in January next year, improved conditions for public-service workers, and a guaranteed four consecutive hours of sleep for technical staff working night shifts. The agreement came through mutual concessions, with both sides taking into account the inconvenience a strike would cause to the public and the corporation's difficult fiscal situation.

With the tentative agreement in place, the union withdrew its planned strike and Busan's metro resumed normal operations from the first train Friday. The two sides are set to finalize the deal following a union delegates' assembly and a general membership vote. If the agreement is confirmed, Busan Transportation Corporation will extend its streak of dispute-free years to seven consecutive years.

Busan Transportation Corporation President Kim Tae-ho, who faced the strike threat immediately after taking office, stepped into the negotiations and helped bring about a resolution that kept the metro running. "This tentative agreement is the result of both labor and management each taking a step back for the sake of stable metro operations," Kim said. "We will do our utmost to maintain labor-management harmony built on mutual trust and provide citizens with safe and convenient service."


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com