Oh Sehoon Vows to "Continue Persuasion" Amid City Bus Strike

"Seoul Mobilizes All Transportation Resources to Minimize Inconvenience"
Emergency Transport Measures Activated... Maximum Subway Operations Implemented

On January 13, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated that he feels a grave sense of responsibility as city buses in Seoul have begun a strike following the final breakdown of negotiations between labor and management. He pledged to do his utmost to ensure that citizens are not stranded.

On this day, Mayor Oh posted on Facebook under the title "The Seoul Metropolitan Government will take full responsibility so that citizens are not stranded," writing, "As mayor, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility when I consider the inconvenience and confusion citizens will experience starting from this morning's commute."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the Seoul City Hall Disaster and Safety Situation Room on the 13th, when the Seoul city bus strike began, to inspect emergency transportation measures. Seoul City

He went on to say, "The Seoul Metropolitan Government will activate a prepared response system to ensure that your daily lives are not disrupted," and emphasized, "We have immediately implemented emergency transportation measures to prevent a traffic crisis and minimize inconvenience for citizens. We will mobilize all available transportation resources."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is immediately implementing emergency transportation measures prepared in anticipation of the city bus strike. Seoul Metro will increase subway operations by 172 trips per day and extend service by one hour during morning and evening rush hours. Additionally, all 25 districts will operate free shuttle buses to subway stations.

Mayor Oh added, "The Seoul Metropolitan Government will continue to persuade both labor and management until the end," and said, "We will do our utmost to ensure that buses, the main mode of transportation for citizens, return to normal operation as soon as possible by maintaining dialogue. All public officials in Seoul will remain on high alert at the scene to ensure the safety and convenience of citizens."

Earlier, in the early morning of the same day, the Seoul City Bus Labor Union under the National Automobile Workers' Federation and the employer side, the Seoul City Bus Transportation Business Association, declared the breakdown of wage and collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Labor and management had held a post-mediation meeting of the special mediation committee on wage and collective bargaining at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission in Yeongdeungpo District from around 3 p.m. the previous day. However, after more than 10 hours of negotiations without reaching an agreement, the union decided to proceed with the general strike as scheduled, starting at 4 a.m. that day.

Labor and management have been at an impasse over the issue of ordinary wages since April last year. The management side, considering that personnel costs would rise sharply if the scope of ordinary wages expands in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, insisted on restructuring the wage system by including bonuses in the base salary. They proposed a total wage increase of 10.3%. On the other hand, the union argued that additional wage payments resulting from recognizing ordinary wages should be excluded from this negotiation, and demanded a 3% wage increase without restructuring the wage system, extension of the retirement age to 65, and the elimination of wage discrimination.

Currently, about 7,000 city buses operate on 394 routes across 64 companies in Seoul. All 64 companies are participating in the union.