Seoul Bus Strike Called Off Just 2 Hours Before Walkout After 3.2% Wage Deal

Seoul city bus unions and management called off a strike just two hours before it was set to begin, agreeing to a 3.2% wage increase. The Seoul City Bus Labor Union and the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association reached a final agreement on wage and collective bargaining (a labor-management pact setting working conditions) adjustment proposals at around 1:50 a.m. on the 16th, during the second mediation meeting of the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission (a body mediating labor disputes). The deal came after roughly 12 hours of negotiations that began at 2 p.m. the previous day. The raise is 0.3 percentage points higher than last year's 2.9%.

Commuters were spared morning rush-hour chaos. Following the settlement, the Seoul Metropolitan Government lifted its emergency transport measures, and city buses ran normally on the morning commute ahead of the Chuseok holiday.

Negotiations over the standard hours used to calculate ordinary wages—the main point of contention between the two sides—have been postponed until after courts issue rulings related to transport companies. Union chief Park Jeom-gon explained, "The lawsuits concerning ordinary wages share the same 176-hour component but differ in secondary issues, so we decided to let the courts rule according to the law." During these negotiations as well, the management side, which sought to settle the ordinary wage issue together, clashed with the union, which refused to discuss it. Management estimates that fully meeting the union's demands would impose an additional annual burden of some 500 billion won.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wrote on Facebook that day, "Setting deadlines and threatening a full-scale strike before sufficient negotiations must not be repeated."