Sides agree on 3.2% wage hike after 12 hours of negotiations

Union drops strike threat; normal service resumes from Wednesday's first run

Key dispute over ordinary wage calculation hours left unresolved

Kim Jeong-hwan (right), chairman of the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association, and Park Jeom-gon (left), chairman of the Seoul Bus Workers' Union under the Korea Automobile Workers' Federation, pose for a photo after signing the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission's mediation proposal at the commission's office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Kim Jeong-hwan (right), chairman of the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association, and Park Jeom-gon (left), chairman of the Seoul Bus Workers' Union under the Korea Automobile Workers' Federation, pose for a photo after signing the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission's mediation proposal at the commission's office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Seoul's city bus operators and their workers reached an agreement just over two hours before a threatened strike was set to begin, averting what could have been a major disruption to the morning commute. City buses ran on their normal schedule from Wednesday's first departure.

However, the central sticking point of the dispute — a proposed overhaul of the wage structure, including the standard hours used to calculate ordinary wages — was left unresolved, leaving the door open to future conflict.

The Seoul Bus Transport Business Association and the Seoul Bus Workers' Union under the Korea Automobile Workers' Federation reached a deal at around 1:50 a.m. Wednesday, accepting a mediation proposal put forward by the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission. The agreement came roughly 12 hours after the two sides began their second round of mediation talks at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Under the mediation proposal, both sides agreed to raise wages by 3.2% for 2026, up 0.3 percentage points from last year's 2.9% increase. The union subsequently withdrew its planned general strike.

However, the two sides excluded from the agreement the hotly contested question of how many monthly hours should serve as the baseline for calculating ordinary wages.

The union had held firm in its demand that the baseline be set at 176 hours per month, citing the intent of a second-instance court ruling in a lawsuit against Dong-A Transport last year and a Supreme Court ruling in April. It had also sought an additional 7.85% increase in the hourly wage.

Management and the Seoul Metropolitan Government countered that 230 hours should apply, taking into account contractually agreed working hours. Management also offered 209 hours as an alternative, presenting a wage increase proposal of around 10.32% — reflecting a 6 to 7% rise based on the 209-hour calculation, plus additional increments.

The two sides set aside the ordinary wage calculation dispute as a matter for future negotiations, concluding the current round of talks with only the wage increase rate decided.

Both parties agreed to determine the calculation baseline once the Supreme Court issues its ruling on ordinary wage standards for transport companies, expected by year's end — effectively deferring the issue as they did when talks concluded in January.

With the deal in place, Seoul city buses operated normally from Wednesday's first run. The Seoul Metropolitan Government lifted the emergency transport measures it had prepared in case of a strike, and shuttle buses arranged by the city and its district offices will not be deployed. Subway services that had been scheduled to run more frequently with extended last-train times will also return to their regular timetables.


ken@heraldcorp.com