15 Airport Subsidiaries' Unions Announce Strike Starting From the 19th... Demanding Improvement in Work Systems

Press conference announcing the general strike of the National Airport Workers' Solidarity [Photo by Cho Hyun-young]

The National Airport Workers' Solidarity, representing 15,000 airport workers from 15 airports nationwide, including Incheon and Gimpo, announced that they will begin a general strike starting from the 19th.

The National Airport Workers' Solidarity held a press conference to announce the general strike in front of the Yongsan Presidential Office on the morning of the 9th.

This organization is composed of the Incheon Airport Regional Branch of the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers' Union, to which Incheon Airport workers belong, and the National Airport Workers' Union, to which workers from the other 14 airports belong. This is the first time the two unions will go on a general strike together.

Union members are primarily employed by airport subsidiaries and are responsible for runway and terminal maintenance and repair, firefighting, and electrical facility management.

The Solidarity is demanding a shift from a 3-shift, 2-rotation system to a 4-shift, 2-rotation system at Incheon Airport, and improvements to disadvantages faced by subsidiary workers at airports nationwide.

Kim Haeng-ki, Secretary-General of the National Airport Workers' Union, stated, "Unless a shift is changed or someone works in place of another, we fear the recovery of labor costs and cannot take rest. This leads to increased fatigue and safety accidents, but the responsibility falls solely on the subsidiaries."

So Hyung-eun, Secretary-General of the Public Service and Transport Workers' Union, Incheon Airport Regional Branch, criticized that there have been more than seven industrial accident cases this year alone, including a 70-year-old worker who fell to his death during construction in the terminal on April 3rd, and a subsidiary employee who died while on night duty on the 26th of last month.

They have announced that they will conduct a warning strike at the second passenger terminal of Incheon Airport on the 19th, followed by a strike continuing through the Chuseok holiday period.

A representative from the Solidarity said, "Even without a strike during the Lunar New Year holiday earlier this year, there were delays of 3 to 8 hours at each airport. With over 60% expected to participate in this strike, it could escalate to flight cancellations."