As buses operated by nine city bus companies in Changwon, Gyeongnam, have remained out of service for the third consecutive day, the Changwon City Council has stepped in to mediate between labor and management.
On May 30, Son Taehwa, Chairperson of the Changwon City Council, released a statement saying, "The labor and management of Changwon's city bus companies have agreed to resume negotiations after the 21st presidential election on June 3. I hope the strike will be suspended until then."
He cited examples from other regions such as Seoul, Gwangju, and Ulsan, where strikes have been put on hold, and proposed that the strike in Changwon also be temporarily postponed to alleviate inconvenience for citizens.
Chairperson Son explained, "This year's wage negotiations include the issue of ordinary wages in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, which is a nationwide matter," and added, "It is difficult to apply this uniformly, given that the financial conditions of each local government are different."
He went on to emphasize, "We must not allow a situation in which, due to the strike, even a single person in Changwon is unable to exercise their right to vote because they cannot use the city bus, which is the only means of public transportation in the city. I hope the inconvenience for citizens will be resolved as soon as possible."
A chartered bus deployed as an emergency transport vehicle at a bus stop on Woni-daero in Changwon, Gyeongnam, is displaying a bus route number. Photo by Lee Seryung
Previously, labor and management at the nine city bus companies in Changwon held five rounds of negotiations and two rounds of preliminary mediation since December 20, 2024, in preparation for the 2025 wage and collective bargaining agreements.
The second mediation began at 2 p.m. on May 27, but even after extending into a third mediation session until 3 a.m., the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
As a result, the Changwon City Bus Labor Union exercised its right to strike based on a strike vote in which 85.6% of union members supported the action, and bus operations were halted starting with the first buses on May 28.
The buses participating in the strike amount to 669 vehicles, accounting for 95% of all city buses in Changwon.
In response to the strike, Changwon City urgently deployed 170 chartered buses, 10 official vehicles, and 330 leased buses that had been prepared in advance. However, related complaints and reports of inconvenience have surged to around 3,000 per day, with issues such as bus intervals becoming two to three times longer.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
