Seoul’s subway workers plan to launch a work-to-rule protest starting Wednesday and stage a general strike on December 6, calling for the withdrawal of plans to reduce the workforce and introduce a single-attendant system.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the main union at Seoul Metro, which accounts for 60 percent of unionized workers at the company that operates lines 1 through 8, said the city’s restructuring and the suspension of hiring have led to a serious vacuum and workforce shortage.

With around 71 percent of its members in favor of a strike, the union is demanding the normalization of workforce management, as well as a wage hike next year that is higher than the two-point-five percent offered by the subway operator.

Should the union proceed with the strike, it will be the third consecutive year it has done so.

Earlier, the Korean Railway Workers’ Union, which launched a work-to-rule protest on Monday, announced an indefinite strike beginning early next month.