The Gyeonggi-do Bus Union Council, made up of 50 bus companies, held a strike ballot on the 23rd and approved a walkout. Accordingly, if two upcoming mediation meetings by the regional labor commission on the labor dispute break down, the Gyeonggi Bus Union Council will be able to strike legally.
The Gyeonggi Bus Union Council said it approved a strike with a 97.9% approval rate among voting members, based on ballots held by each affiliated bus company from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. Of 19,384 members, 90.6% (17,576) took part in the vote.
The Gyeonggi Bus Union Council includes 50 companies and about 10,000 buses. Of these, around 2,300 are under the semi-public system, about 7,100 are privately operated, and roughly 800 are intercity buses. It has about 19,000 members, said to account for 90% of all bus drivers in the Gyeonggi area.
The Gyeonggi Bus Union Council can launch a strike if two meetings with management fail to find common ground. Earlier, on the 1st of this month, the council declared final breakdown in collective bargaining with the employers' group, the Gyeonggi-do Bus Transport Business Association, and on the 15th of the same month applied to the regional labor commission for labor-dispute mediation.
The mediation period at the regional labor commission is 15 days. The first mediation meeting between the sides will be held around 5 p.m. that day. If no settlement is reached by the 30th, the Gyeonggi Bus Union Council plans to begin an all-out strike starting with the first buses on Oct. 1.
The Gyeonggi Bus Union Council is demanding that privately operated routes, like those under the semi-public system, switch to a two-shift-per-day work schedule and guarantee equal pay. It is also known to have proposed an increase for semi-public routes matching the Seoul bus union's wage hike demand this year of 8.2%.