Seoul bus workers’ union threatens strike on September 16
Seoul’s city bus workers’ union said it could launch a full strike starting with the first services on September 16 if mediation in its labor dispute with operators fails. The pay dispute earlier this year already led to a brief strike, The Korea Herald reports.
Mediation in the labor dispute
The Seoul bus workers’ union requested mediation from the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission after talks with the Seoul Bus Transportation Business Association broke down. If the 15-day mediation period ends without an agreement, the union will gain the legal right to strike.
Wage calculation
The dispute concerns how court rulings should be reflected in drivers’ pay. A 2024 ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court expanded the definition of ordinary wages — the basis for calculating overtime pay and other legally mandated payments. It allowed more regular bonuses to be included.
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In a labor case involving Dong-A Transportation, a lower court used 176 hours as the monthly basis for converting ordinary monthly wages into an hourly rate. The union demands that this standard be applied across the industry, while operators support a calculation based on 209 hours. With the same monthly salary, dividing it by 176 hours results in a higher hourly rate and increases overtime payments.
The union says that the Seoul city government and operators had previously agreed to use the Dong-A Transportation case to settle unpaid amounts following the Supreme Court ruling. At the same time, it accuses operators of abandoning this approach and seeking to wait for rulings in other cases. The operators proposed including regular bonuses in annual salary, which they say would increase annual income by about 10.3%. The union rejected the proposal, saying it effectively freezes wages and does not fully account for payments owed to workers.
