Bus drivers hold last-minute talks with management on eve of threatened strike

Unionized city bus drivers and their employers protest demanding for pay hikes in Seoul, April 21. Yonhap

Unionized city bus drivers and their employers were to hold last-minute negotiations over wage hikes on Monday ahead of threatened simultaneous strikes that could start the following day involving more than 40,000 drivers nationwide.

Members of the Korean Automobile and Transport Workers' Federation, the nation's largest bus drivers' organization, in 10 major cities and provinces, including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Gyeonggi Province, approved the walkout plan during votes conducted early last week.

If no agreements are reached by midnight Monday, the unionized bus drivers in Seoul and most of the affected regions plan to launch a stoppage from 4 a.m. Tuesday, the group said, adding the strikes will involve about 45,000 drivers.

Hit by the coronavirus pandemic, bus operators across the country did not raise wages last year. In recent negotiations, they rejected workers' demands for pay hikes and offered a freeze for the second consecutive year.

In Seoul, the union demands a pay increase of 322,276 won ($261) per driver but management rejected it and offered a freeze. In case the last-minute negotiations fail, about 18,600 drivers and 7,235 buses operated by 61 companies, or 98 percent of all city buses in the capital, will stay off the roads, the union warned.

If the union goes on strike, Seoul city buses will be stopped for the first time in 10 years. The union staged a walkout over the wage issue in 2012 but ended the strike in only 40 minutes after reaching a dramatic agreement.

In Busan, the nation's second-largest city, 5,163 of 6,163 unionized city bus drivers voted in favor of a strike last week and are demanding an 8.5 percent pay hike. In the southeastern city of Daegu, unionized bus drivers threaten to go on strike on Wednesday.

In Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, the possible strike planned for Tuesday will affect about 7,000 buses operated by 35 companies and a large number of Gyeonggi residents who commute to Seoul every day. The province's unionized drivers are demanding a wage increase of 14.4 percent and the implementation of a full five-day workweek.

To cope with the looming public transport disruptions, Seoul and other local governments plan to deploy public sector and chartered buses, mobilize non-union drivers and increase taxi operations. (Yonhap)

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