The railroad union, which is struggling to comply with the law condemning the government’s privatization move, will hold an all-out resolution meeting on the 15th and take collective action.

Sooner or later, the government is expected to become the largest shareholder of SR , the operator of Suseo High-speed Railway안전놀이터, but the railway union is protesting against this, saying it is an unfair privilege.

This is reporter Yoon Hae-ri’s report.

[Reporter]
Notices were posted all over Yongsan Station in Seoul, saying that train service may be delayed due to the railroad union’s sabotage.

Four Mugunghwa-ho trains on the Gyeongbu Line and Janghang Line have been temporarily suspended until the railway union strike is over.

Since the 8th, the railroad union has been fighting for compliance to condemn the government’s push for privatization of the railroad division and the unfair preferential treatment of SR , the operator of the Suseo High-Speed ​​Railroad SRT . It has been half a year since they started a struggle at the end of last year for raising wages and blocking railroad privatization. This slowdown began with the expiration of the so-called put option, the right to purchase stocks for SR shares owned by public institutions on the 17th . Currently, 41% of the shares in the SR are owned by KORAIL, and the remaining 59% by the Teachers’ Pension Service, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Korea Development Bank. Investors other than Korail plan to exercise put options this week,

SR has to pay more than 200 billion won by adding interest to the original investment of 147.5 billion won.

If this happens, SR ‘s debt ratio will exceed 150%, which is the level of revocation of a railway operator’s license, and the government decided to invest hundreds of billions of won to buy this stake.

It means that the largest shareholder will change to the government, but the railroad union claims that it is an unfair preferential treatment.

[Kim Seon-wook / National Railroad Labor Union Policy Team Leader: The government does not require self-rescue efforts only from SRs , but the government invests directly to lower the debt ratio. The government’s position is that it is a measure to maintain the competitive system between

KORAIL and SR in the high-speed rail market.

It also refuted the claim that the government is trying to promote privatization by buying SR shares as a distorted claim.

The railroad union requested a meeting with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to implement the proposal to stop unfair preferential treatment of SR and to integrate SRT and KTX in the long term.

The railroad union plans to hold an all-out resolution rally at Seoul Station on the 15th and continue the struggle in the second half of the year if the demands are not fulfilled.

This is YTN Haeri Yoon.