Kim Dongyeon on Dramatic Bus Strike Resolution: "Active Efforts for Better Working Conditions and Management Improvement"

On October 1, Gyeonggi Province Governor Dongyeon Kim expressed his gratitude to both labor and management, announcing that the bus labor-management negotiations had reached a dramatic resolution.

In a post on his social media that day, Governor Kim stated, "The Gyeonggi Province bus labor-management negotiations were dramatically concluded just a short while ago," and added, "I sincerely thank both labor and management for extending the negotiation deadline and reaching an agreement until the very end."

He especially remarked, "Even before the agreement was finalized, I would like to thank you on behalf of the residents for operating the first buses to ensure people could get to work," and promised, "Gyeonggi Province will actively support improvements in working conditions and management environments so that the contents of the labor-management agreement can shine, and we will continue to join forces with both sides going forward."

Gyeonggi Province Governor Dongyeon Kim's post and photo uploaded on his SNS on the 1st

Previously, the Gyeonggi Province Bus Labor Union Council held a final mediation meeting with the Gyeonggi Province Bus Transportation Business Association, the employers' group, at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission from 4:00 p.m. on September 30 until 6:00 a.m. the following day, reaching an agreement on the wage contract after 14 hours of negotiations.

Accordingly, the union council withdrew the all-out strike that had been scheduled to begin with the first bus service that day, and all routes returned to normal operation.

Although the union council at one point declared a breakdown in negotiations and applied for mediation to be halted at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission, both sides made concessions. They agreed to an 8.5% wage increase for quasi-public routes and a 400,000 won monthly increase for private routes. In addition, to improve the working conditions of the relatively disadvantaged private routes, it was decided that starting in January 2027, private routes will adopt the same wage and work structure as the quasi-public routes.