Seoul City Buses Face Complete Shutdown on September 16 Amid Labor-Management Dispute Over Wage Increase

Mediation Meetings Set for September 9 and 15 at Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission
If Mediation Fails, Strike to Begin...Significant Disruption Expected for Citizens
Labor Conflict Intensifies Over Base Hours for Ordinary Wage Calculations

As negotiations between Seoul city bus management and labor over wage proposals reach a stalemate, there is an increasing likelihood that all bus services will be suspended from the start of the first buses on September 16, 2026.

The Seoul City Bus Labor Union announced on the 3rd, "We have filed for dispute mediation with the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission, and if no agreement is reached, we will launch a full-scale strike starting from the first bus on the 16th."

Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Application for Labor Dispute Mediation...Two Rounds of Meetings Scheduled

The union declared the breakdown of collective bargaining on August 31 and submitted an application for labor dispute mediation to the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission. Mediation for labor disputes is a mandatory step the union must undertake prior to engaging in industrial action.

The Labor Relations Commission is set to hold two mediation meetings, one on the 9th and another on the 15th. The union plans to hold a vote among its members on the 11th regarding whether to embark on industrial action, and if final mediation fails, it intends to halt all bus services starting on the 16th.

Bus management and labor in Seoul have been in conflict following the Supreme Court's 2024 en banc ruling, which recognized regular bonuses as ordinary wages.

The Seoul City Bus Business Association, an organization representing bus companies, proposed to incorporate regular bonuses into annual salaries in accordance with the new Supreme Court precedent. Under this approach, regular bonuses would be eliminated and annual salaries would increase by about 10.3%.

However, the union has defined this management proposal as a "wage freeze" and is demanding both the payment of allowances in accordance with the new legal precedent and an additional wage increase.

Labor and Management at Odds Over Ordinary Wage Base Hours

The two sides have also failed to narrow their differences over the "base hours" used to calculate the hourly amount of ordinary wages paid on a monthly basis. The smaller the base hours, the greater the wages paid.

In the appeal trial of Dong-A Transportation's union against the company, the Supreme Court overturned part of the original appellate judgment except for the ruling that set the base hours at 176 per month, returning the case to the Seoul High Court. By recognizing the 176-hour base, the ruling effectively sided with the workers.

Accordingly, the union argues that the base hours have been definitively set at 176 hours, while management sees room for the courts to change their judgment to 209 or even 230 hours.

Lawsuits of a similar nature filed by unions of other companies, excluding Dong-A Transportation, are still in the first trial stage, and rulings vary by region.

Most Seoul city buses ceased operation as the Seoul City Bus Union launched an indefinite full-scale strike on the 13th. The electronic display at a bus stop near Seoul Station shows Seoul city bus routes marked as "Waiting to Depart." 2026.01.13 Photo by Dongju Yoon

The union stated, "At the beginning of the year, we ended the strike in good faith, believing in the promise from the city and employers to determine unpaid wages based on the Supreme Court's Dong-A Transportation ruling. However, after that ruling, management broke their promise and insisted that they would follow the standard set by any new Supreme Court ruling that may be handed down regarding lawsuits involving other companies."

Seoul city buses had not experienced a strike for 12 years until 2024, when labor and management failed to narrow their differences over wage increases and other issues, resulting in an approximately 11-hour strike that March. On January 13–14, they engaged in another tug-of-war over wage adjustment in response to the ordinary wage ruling, ultimately leading to the longest strike in their history, lasting two days.

An official from the Seoul City Bus Business Association, representing the management side, stated, "Since the 16th precedes the Chuseok holiday, a strike at that time would cause significant inconvenience for citizens."

Park Jeomgon, head of the union, said, "The 176-hour standard recognized by the Supreme Court is an inviolable legal right. If management breaks its promise to honor this agreement and seeks to cut real wages, there is no other choice but to proceed with a general strike."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.