Seoul City: "176-Hour Standard for Ordinary Wages Not Confirmed... Excessive Wage Demands Should Be Curbed"

Seoul Mobilizes Emergency Transportation Measures Ahead of Bus Strike
“Dong-A Transport Case Partially Remanded… Final Ruling Pending”
“Union Broke Off Negotiations, Seeking Only Wage Increase”
Final Talks Underway… Strike to Begin from First Bus on the 16th If No Agreement

As the management and labor of Seoul city buses entered last-minute negotiations ahead of the scheduled strike date, the Seoul Metropolitan Government refuted the union's claim that the standard calculation period for ordinary wages should be set at 176 hours per month. The city stated, "The union's assertion that the standard calculation period for ordinary wages has been confirmed at 176 hours is not true."

Jangkwon Yeo, Director of Transportation at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, explained during an emergency transportation response briefing on September 15th at Seoul City Hall, "The claim that the standard calculation period for ordinary wages for Seoul city bus drivers was determined as 176 hours based on the Supreme Court's Dong-A Transport verdict is not accurate." He added, "The Dong-A Transport verdict did not make a judgment regarding the calculation period for wage rates."

A strike by the Seoul city bus union was approved through a union member vote, and a full strike is scheduled to begin on the 16th. On the morning of the 14th, a banner opposing the strike issued by the Seoul City Bus Transport Business Association was hung on a Seoul metropolitan bus operating to Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Huh Younghan

In particular, regarding whether the labor and management agreed to backdate the Supreme Court's Dong-A Transport decision during last year's wage and collective bargaining negotiations, he said, "It is true that we proposed to revamp the wage system based on 209 hours and, if the Dong-A decision came out at 176 hours, to retroactively settle the difference. However, the union unilaterally rejected this proposal and pressed ahead with the strike, resulting in an agreement on only a 2.9% wage increase, without any restructuring of the wage system."

Currently, the union maintains that since the Supreme Court upheld the 176-hour standard, the same calculation period must also be applied to Seoul city buses. The union is also demanding payment for unpaid wages that have not been calculated using this standard.

On the other hand, management argues that, since some issues were remanded for further proceedings, the 176-hour standard has not been definitively determined and the calculation period should be 209 hours or 230 hours. They have proposed a compromise: first, to revise the wage system based on 209 hours, including paid weekly holidays, and then, should the final court decision confirm the 176-hour standard, to pay the difference retroactively. Labor lawsuits filed by unions at companies other than Dong-A Transport with similar claims are still ongoing in the first instance.

Furthermore, according to management, if all of the union's demands are accepted, the annual salary of a level 9 driver with more than 22 years of service would reach 85.09 million won, and the city would incur an additional burden of over 500 billion won each year. Director Yeo noted, "Every additional 1 percentage point increase in wages would lead to approximately 14 billion won in extra annual spending," expressing concern that complying with all of the union's demands would significantly increase the city's fiscal deficit for bus subsidies.

This labor dispute has also been exacerbated by the issue of scholarship and welfare point payments to those who did not participate in the January strike. Earlier this month, the union sent official notices to each branch stating that members who did not join the January strike would be excluded from the recipients of scholarship and year-end welfare points. Some drivers who did not participate in the strike filed petitions with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, but the union is objecting, saying that this is not an issue for the city to intervene in.

On this day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government also announced plans to mobilize all available administrative resources to prepare for the city bus strike. Emergency transportation measures are being readied, including the temporary suspension of curbside bus-only lanes, deploying 1,500 free chartered shuttle buses, increasing subway train frequency and extending the last train times, and offering free use of public bikes.

In particular, the operation of free shuttle buses (chartered buses) will be significantly expanded. Previously, such shuttles were organized by each local district, but this time, the city itself plans to deploy these buses on major arterial roads to greatly increase transport capacity during commuting hours. The city emphasized the need for this expansion, noting, "When bus service is stopped, citizens in areas with poor access to the subway and those with limited mobility are the ones most affected first."

The frequency of subway trains and the length of extended late-night service will also be doubled compared to previous plans. In past emergency transport plans, both the frequency and late-night extension were each set at one hour during rush hours; this time, both will be extended by two hours to maximize transport capacity during peak demand periods. Shuttle bus routes and schedules are posted on the Seoul city website to better inform the public.

Official requests have already been sent to related organizations such as the Office of Education, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Korea Federation of SMEs, asking for adjustments to class start times in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as the implementation of remote and flexible work in private companies. The city government and its affiliated public institutions are also actively adopting flexible work policies internally in preparation to minimize commuting disruptions. Information on alternative modes of transportation for foreign visitors to Seoul is also being strengthened.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated, "It is very concerning that, only eight months since the last strike in January, citizens are once again facing the same inconvenience." He emphasized that the city buses, used by an average of about 3.8 million passengers per day, are an essential means of transportation that must not be halted, and called for responsible negotiations from the union. The city also stressed, "Just as the union's right to strike is important, so is the citizens' right to mobility, so the union should refrain from making excessive wage demands."

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