D-1 Until Full Seoul Bus Strike, Last-Minute Friction in Wage Talks

Seoul is one day away from a full city bus strike. The Seoul Bus Labor Union has announced it will walk off the job starting with the first buses on the 16th, and the two sides are holding a second mediation meeting at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission (a body that mediates labor disputes) this afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to settle the wage dispute. If today's talks collapse as the union has warned, Seoul city buses will stop running from the first departures on the 16th.

The sticking points are the number of hours used to calculate ordinary wages and the wage increase rate. The union is demanding a 176-hour calculation basis and a 7.85% increase in hourly wages, while the employers' side, the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association, has countered with a 209-hour basis. The employers have also proposed an alternative 10.32% increase on top of the union's demanded 7.85% annual raise. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said that if the union's demands are accepted, the annual salary of long-serving bus drivers would rise from about 68 million won last year to about 85 million won. In a strike vote held on the 11th, union members voted in favor of industrial action, with 87.94% of regular bus workers and 80.50% of feeder bus workers approving.

To prepare for the strike, the Seoul city government will deploy 1,500 free shuttle buses (1,300 at 25 district locations and 200 on major arterial roads), run 202 additional subway trips a day, and extend the last trains to 2 a.m. It has also announced emergency transport measures, including temporarily suspending bus-only lanes and offering free use of the city's shared bicycles.