Will the Seoul City Bus Strike End? Labor and Management to Resume Talks Tomorrow

After failing to narrow their differences over a wage increase proposal and ultimately launching a strike, the labor and management sides of Seoul city buses will resume negotiations on January 14.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the bus industry on January 13, the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission will hold a post-mediation meeting at 3:00 p.m. on January 14, attended by representatives from the Seoul City Bus Labor Union, which is part of the National Automobile Labor Union Federation (hereafter referred to as the bus union), and the Seoul City Bus Transportation Business Association, representing management (hereafter referred to as the Seoul City Bus Association).

A post-mediation meeting is a session in which the labor commission mediates to resolve disputes when labor and management fail to reach an agreement even after the official labor dispute mediation process. The two sides held a post-mediation meeting on January 12 but could not reach a compromise, leading to the strike.

This post-mediation meeting is being convened at the request of the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission.

The two sides remain at odds over the interpretation and application of the Supreme Court ruling in December 2024, which expanded the scope of bonuses recognized as ordinary wages, and the appellate court ruling in the Dong-A Transportation case, which first applied this precedent to city bus companies.

The management side proposed to restructure the wage system in line with the intent of the ordinary wage ruling and to raise wages by a total of 10.3 percent. However, the union rejected the restructuring of the wage system and demanded a separate wage increase of more than 3 percent.

If labor and management reach an agreement before midnight on January 14 at the upcoming post-mediation meeting, Seoul city buses will resume normal operations from the first bus on January 15.