Management and labor at Seoul city buses have not even set an additional bargaining schedule on the 13th. This means the bus union's strike, which began with the first runs of the day, could drag on.
Seoul City and the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association held a briefing at Seoul City Hall's briefing room that morning regarding the city bus strike.
Association Chair Kim Jeong-hwan said at the briefing, "Even after the pre-dawn talks broke down, we discussed with the union for about an hour but could not find common ground," adding, "We have not yet set an additional bargaining schedule." A Seoul City official also said, "Everything is uncertain, and it is hard to judge what demands the union will make, when we will meet, and how far we should keep options open in responding."
The Seoul city bus union went on strike starting with the first runs of the day. Although negotiations were held at a post-mediation meeting of the special mediation committee on wage and collective bargaining at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission with the association representing management, they failed to reach an agreement.
Kim said, "Local city buses went through the same situation and concluded wage talks," adding, "We offered better terms than any region, yet the union refused and is demanding more." He added, "As talks progressed, we proposed even better terms, but the union keeps rejecting them."
Kim also said, "There has been no Supreme Court ruling on ordinary wages related to bus workers," adding, "Based on the Dong-A Transportation lawsuit, which has a second-instance ruling, we proposed to apply parts favorable to the union." Management said it proposed a 10.3% wage increase to the union. In the second-instance ruling last Oct., the court recognized only 45% of the amount claimed by the Dong-A Transportation union in its ordinary wage case. In line with the intent of the precedent, an appropriate wage increase rate is in the 7%–8% range.
A Seoul City official also said, "On top of the 10.3% increase plan, the union demanded retroactive application of any additional increase based on the future Supreme Court ruling on city bus ordinary wages, while guaranteeing 10.3% even if the ruling results in a lower increase rate."
Seoul City said it expressed willingness to accept the union's demands to prevent the strike, but claimed the union still refused. Due to differences between management and labor at Seoul city buses, the Regional Labor Relations Commission proposed a 0.5% increase in base pay and a one-year extension of the retirement age as a mediation plan. During the discussions, both sides reportedly did not differ on the base pay increase rate itself. Kim said, "After a branch leaders' meeting, the union said it could not accept this, declared a breakdown in talks, and announced a strike."
Due to the Seoul city bus union's strike that day, as of 9 a.m., only 478 buses, or 6.8% of the total 7,018 city buses, were operating. By route, 129 routes, or 32.7% of 395, were operating. A Seoul City official said, "By the bus operation rate metric, we evaluate that it needs to rise to about 30% to have meaningful transport capacity," adding, "Until we reach that figure, we judge that proper service is not being provided and will not collect fares."