"No Bus Strike" ... Early Settlement of Wage Negotiations for City Buses in Changwon Special City

Bus Labor and Management United
Peaceful Negotiation Reached After 10 Years

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam announced on the 18th that the 2024 city bus labor-management wage negotiations were finally settled at the 1st Special Mediation Meeting held at the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission.

Early Settlement of Wage Negotiations for City Buses in Changwon Special City.

Concerns among citizens about the city bus strike, which was scheduled to begin with the first bus on the 28th following the 2nd Special Mediation Meeting planned for the 27th if no compromise was reached at the 1st Special Mediation Meeting, have been alleviated.

This city bus wage negotiation is significant as it marks the first pre-crisis settlement in 10 years since wages were frozen in 2015 due to the overall management difficulties in the transportation industry and labor-management agreement.

The Changwon city bus labor and management sides have repeatedly engaged in last-minute tug-of-war negotiations, causing citizens to feel anxious about strikes every year, making this early settlement particularly noteworthy.

During last year’s strike, the city resolved labor-management conflicts through the active mediation of Jo Myeong-rae, the 2nd Deputy Mayor of Changwon Special City.

Deputy Mayor Jo stated, “We plan to fundamentally improve strikes that cause inconvenience to citizens by proactively guiding city bus labor-management negotiations in advance.”

Accordingly, the city held a labor-management-government meeting on January 25 to peacefully resolve bus labor-management negotiations and provide stable services, actively requesting negotiations from both sides. In response, the bus labor and management sides applied for the ‘Pre-Mediation Support System’ for the first time in wage negotiation history by mutual agreement.

The labor side, Changwon City Bus Labor Union, and the management side, Changwon City Bus Council, engaged in intense negotiations for hours during the 1st Special Mediation Meeting held from 4 p.m. on the 18th, discussing the labor side’s demand for a 9.3% wage increase and the management side’s proposed 2.5% increase.

After entering mediation, they finally agreed on a 4.48% wage increase, a 38,000 KRW increase in accident-free allowance, and a 39,000 KRW increase in fitness training allowance, signing the 2024 wage agreement mediation plan.

Jeon Jin-an, Vice Chairman of the Changwon City Bus Council who participated as the management representative in the negotiations, said, “This year, the Changwon city bus labor and management wanted to show citizens a changed image with one heart,” adding, “Both sides made great efforts, including continuous behind-the-scenes negotiations and proposing meetings to the labor side to build trust and open channels of dialogue.”