Korea Railroad to reinstate fired workers after decade-long dispute

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- Korea Railroad Corp., the operator of South Korea's KTX high-speed rail network, said Saturday it has reached an agreement with a labor union to rehire cabin crewmembers who had been sacked, ending a 12-year battle over their employment status.

The dispute began after the company fired 280 cabin crewmembers who had been contracted under one of its affiliates in May 2006 after they declined to be transferred to another subsidiary. The workers had been demanding that the Korea Railroad directly hire them, arguing that it is the actual employer who has control over the workers.

The deal, which was made between Korea Railroad and the Korean Railway Workers' Union, will affect crewmembers who brought the case to the court in 2008.

While the lower courts ruled in favor of the employees, the Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2015.

The latest agreement was made while the top court has been embroiled in a scandal over suspicions that its former chief justice used trials, including the KTX case, as bargaining chips in its dealings with the presidential office for organizational changes.

On the same day, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office looking into the case raided the home of a former senior official at the National Court Administration under the top court.

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