Gwangju Mayor Kang Kijeong: "Prolonged City Bus Strike... Temporary Buses to Be Deployed"

'Public Appeal to Citizens' on the 15th: "We Apologize for the Inconvenience to Citizens"
"Show 'Empathy and Compromise,' Not a 'Show of Strength'"

Kang Kijeong, mayor of Gwangju, is announcing a "Public Appeal" regarding the city bus strike at the city hall briefing room on the afternoon of the 15th. Provided by Gwangju City

As the city bus union strike in Gwangju enters its eighth day, the Gwangju city government has decided to deploy temporary shuttle buses, including chartered buses, on some routes starting June 16 in order to minimize inconvenience for citizens. Due to the prolonged strike, the city plans to urgently deploy six chartered buses on two routes (Circular 01 and Bongseon 37), where the bus operation rate has dropped sharply.

On the afternoon of June 15, Kang Kijeong, mayor of Gwangju, announced these measures in a "Public Appeal to Citizens" regarding the city bus strike.

Mayor Kang stated, "We made various efforts to stop the city bus strike within this weekend, but as there was no progress in negotiations, we plan to further strengthen emergency transportation measures starting next week," and presented five specific measures.

As emergency measures, Mayor Kang outlined: ▲ launching a 24-hour emergency response headquarters ▲ increasing subway operations by 12 additional runs ▲ expanding taxi operations and lifting the vehicle rotation system for public institutions during commuting hours ▲ adjusting school start and end times in cooperation with the Office of Education ▲ and deploying about 60 chartered buses on 20 routes. The chartered buses, introduced as a temporary emergency transportation measure due to the prolonged strike, will be free of charge for two days, June 16 and 17.

At an emergency press conference on the same day, Mayor Kang said, "I apologize for the inconvenience caused to citizens due to the city bus union strike that began on June 5," and explained, "So far, labor and management have held six rounds of autonomous negotiations and gone through four rounds of mediation by the Jeonnam Regional Labor Relations Commission, but have not been able to reach an agreement."

He continued, "At the fourth mediation meeting on June 13, the Jeonnam Regional Labor Relations Commission proposed a 3% wage increase, as there was a significant gap between the management's offer of a 2.5% increase and the union's demand for an increase of more than 5%. However, the union rejected this proposal, and the negotiations broke down."

Mayor Kang also appealed, "We ask for your understanding regarding the inconvenience caused by this city bus strike, and the city will do its best to restore normal operations as soon as possible," and urged, "We call on both labor and management to continue dialogue based on a greater sense of social responsibility, and to demonstrate 'empathy and compromise' rather than a 'show of strength.'"

Meanwhile, the suspension of city bus operations due to a full-scale strike by the Gwangju city bus union is the first such occurrence in 11 years since June 2014.