SEOUL: A 33-hour difference in a wage formula brought Seoul’s bus system back to the brink of a citywide shutdown, eight months after a 44-hour walkout left the same dispute unresolved.
At issue is whether drivers’ ordinary hourly wages should be calculated using 176 or 209 working hours per month. The figure serves as the denominator, meaning the lower benchmark produces higher hourly pay and, in turn, higher overtime, night and holiday allowances.
The dispute follows a December 2024 Supreme Court ruling that broadened the definition of ordinary wages, allowing certain regular bonuses to be included.
In a separate lawsuit filed by employees of Dong-A Transportation, the Seoul High Court used 176 hours per month to calculate ordinary hourly wages. The Supreme Court left that calculation undisturbed in April while sending other parts of the case back to the lower court.
The Seoul Bus Workers’ Union says the ruling confirmed the 176-hour benchmark and that it should apply across the city’s bus companies.
Bus operators and the Seoul Metropolitan Government dispute that interpretation. They say the Supreme Court did not expressly establish an industrywide standard and that lawsuits involving other bus companies remain pending.
“The Supreme Court ruling did not establish 176 hours as the standard,” a Seoul transportation official said Tuesday. “That issue still needs to be decided by the courts.”
The same dispute helped trigger January’s 44-hour strike, which ended without an agreement on how to calculate ordinary hourly wages.
Management has proposed using 209 hours for now and paying any difference later if final court rulings require it.
The union is also seeking a separate 7.85 per cent increase in hourly wages. Bus operators have proposed restructuring the wage system in a way they say would raise overall pay by 10.32 per cent.
The union argues that adjustments required by the ordinary-wage ruling should be treated separately from its demand for a 7.85 per cent wage increase.
Union members back second walkout
In a vote last week, 87.94 per cent of union members from 61 city bus operators backed a strike beginning Wednesday if mediation failed. Workers at three separately represented operators also approved industrial action, with 80.50 per cent voting in favour.
The two sides entered a second round of mediation at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission on Tuesday after failing to narrow their differences in the first session on Sept. 9.
If it goes through, the walkout would be Seoul’s second citywide bus strike this year.
Seoul’s 64 private bus operators operate a fleet of 7,383 buses, with about 18,600 employees represented by the union, an affiliate of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. The system carries an average of more than 3.79 million passengers a day.
Seoul prepares expanded backup services
Seoul has prepared up to 1,500 free shuttle buses if regular services stop, more than twice the number deployed during the January strike.
The city’s 25 district offices would operate up to 1,300 shuttles connecting residential areas and major transit hubs with subway stations.
For the first time, the city government would directly deploy about 200 chartered buses on 10 major arterial routes, including Gangnam-daero, Tongil-ro and Dobong-ro, to support travel between districts.
“We will make every effort until the final moment to help the city bus union and management reach a reasonable agreement,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said at an emergency meeting Tuesday.
The subway system would run 202 additional trips a day, with peak service periods extended by two hours in the morning and evening. Late-night service would continue until 2 a.m.
Restrictions on village buses would also be eased, allowing participating operators to use city bus stops and travel on major arterial roads. The city’s Ttareungi public bicycles would be free during the strike.
Curbside bus-only lanes would be opened to regular vehicles, while median bus lanes would remain restricted.
The city has asked schools to consider delaying starting times by one hour and encouraged private companies to use remote or flexible work arrangements. Seoul government offices and affiliated institutions would introduce flexible schedules. - Korea Herald/ANN
