Commuters crowd the platform for Seoul Metro Line 2 at Sindorim Station in southwestern Seoul's Guro District, Wednesday. Yonhap
Commuters faced significant delays on Wednesday as so-called "work-to-rule" protests by railway and subway workers disrupted subway services. These recurring strikes, which take place annually, continue to cause widespread inconvenience to the public.
A work-to-rule protest is a form of industrial action where employees strictly adhere to their job descriptions and work rules, doing only the bare minimum required of them. This can significantly slow down productivity and efficiency.
"I went to the subway station at my usual time this morning, but the train was delayed by 20 stations," said an office worker surnamed Ku, who commutes from Gajwa Station to Hongik University Station on the Gyeongui-Central Line.
Ku took a bus instead, saying, "I would have been more than 30 minutes late if I had waited for the train."
Her colleague, Han Sol, who commutes from Incheon, also faced disruptions during her commute home the previous day.
"I was waiting for a train bound for Yongsan Station, and the display board initially indicated it would arrive in 10 minutes. However, I ended up waiting another 10 minutes due to the delay," she said.
The Korean Railway Workers' Union continued its work-to-rule protest for a third consecutive day, causing delays of over 20 minutes on eight trains operating on subway lines 1, 3, and 4, as well as the Suin-Bundang and Gyeongui-Central lines, according to the Korea Railroad Corp.
Adding to the frustrations of commuters, Seoul Metro's largest labor union, which operates subway lines 1 through 8, also began a work-to-rule protest, Wednesday, sparking concerns of further disruptions to the city's subway services.
According to data submitted by KORAIL to Rep. Suh Bum-soo of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), the railway union has engaged in work-to-rule protests 11 times over the past five years, spanning a total of 178 days from 2019 to 2023. These actions delayed 1,122 trains, with an average delay time of 38 minutes.
The biggest labor union of Seoul Metro has also staged repeated strikes for the past three years.
Both unions are demanding higher pay and an expanded workforce, warning of full-scale strikes if their demands are not met. These requests, which have remained consistent year after year, call for better wages and improved working conditions.
The Seoul Metro labor union has already announced plans for an indefinite strike beginning Dec. 6.
Kim Jin-yoo, a professor at the Department of Urban Planning and Transportation Engineering at Kyonggi University, pointed out the ongoing issue of excessive labor intensity among subway workers, calling it a chronic problem that remains unaddressed.
"While the company often cites deficits as a key issue, public transportation systems worldwide tend to operate at a loss," he said.
"Government-level measures, involving the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, are needed to support deficit-prone areas and reconsider fare exemptions for senior citizens."