Seoul City Buses to "Wait Until Midnight"... 'Full-Scale Strike' at 4 a.m. Tomorrow if Talks Fail

[Financial News] Negotiations between Seoul’s city bus labor and management over wages and a collective agreement are nearing a final breakdown. The union plans to launch a full-scale general strike starting with the first buses at 4 a.m. on the 16th if no last-minute agreement is reached by midnight on the 15th, when the statutory mediation period ends. If the strike becomes a reality, a major transportation disruption is expected, just eight months after the previous one in January.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and labor officials on the 15th, the Seoul City Bus Labor Union of the Korean Automobile Workers’ Federation and the Seoul City Bus Transportation Business Association held a second mediation meeting at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission from 2 p.m. that day. They engaged in last-minute negotiations but had failed to reach common ground by 9:30 p.m.
Park Jeom-gon, chairman of the Seoul City Bus Labor Union, said after a meeting of branch chairpersons, "Management has not presented a single proposal, so we have decided to strike indefinitely until an agreement is reached." The union, however, plans to remain at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission and wait for an additional proposal from management until midnight, when the statutory mediation period expires. If the deadline passes, bus services operated by about 7,000 buses from 64 companies will stop as scheduled, starting with the first buses at 4 a.m. on the 16th.
The key issue in the negotiations is the monthly standard hours to be applied when regular bonuses are included in ordinary wages. Citing a Supreme Court ruling in the Dong-a Transportation lawsuit, the union is demanding that ordinary wages be calculated based on 176 hours per month and that hourly wages be raised by 7.85%. A lower standard-hour figure increases ordinary wages per hour, which in turn raises overtime and night-shift allowances as well as severance pay.
Management, meanwhile, has proposed including regular bonuses in base pay based on 209 hours per month and raising hourly wages by 10.32%. It argues that accepting the union’s demand would require more than 500 billion won in additional funding each year.
As the strike threat intensifies, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will activate large-scale emergency transportation measures starting with the first buses on the 16th to prevent major disruptions during the morning commute.
The city will urgently deploy up to 1,500 free shuttle buses, including chartered buses, to and from subway stations. It will also extend peak commuting hours for subway operations by two hours each, increase daily train services by 202 trips, and extend the last train service until 2 a.m. the following day.
Oh Se-hoon, mayor of Seoul, held an emergency countermeasures meeting and said, "We will mobilize all available administrative resources," urging residents, "Please check service information through subway applications and other channels and use alternative transportation." The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to continue mediating so that labor-management negotiations can resume even after the strike begins.

[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter