Negotiations between the Seoul city bus labor union and management reached a resolution early on September 16.
According to Yonhap News, the bus union announced it would cancel a planned strike set to begin at 4 a.m. and operate all routes normally.
The Seoul City Bus Labor Union and the Seoul City Bus Transportation Business Association finalized their agreement during a second mediation meeting at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission around 1:50 a.m.
The parties accepted the mediation proposal, agreeing to a 3.2% wage increase for 2026. This marks an increase of 0.3 percentage points from last year's wage hike of 2.9%.
Park Jeom-gon, chairman of the Seoul City Bus Labor Union, expressed to reporters after the agreement, "While the outcome is not entirely satisfactory, we made efforts to avoid a strike for the sake of the citizens. I am relieved that we reached a resolution amicably."
He added, "There are ongoing lawsuits related to ordinary wage issues, which are similar for 176 hours, but there are other ancillary issues that make it difficult to address them all at once. We discussed that, despite differences in positions, we should let the law decide on these matters."
Kim Jeong-hwan, director of the Seoul City Bus Transportation Business Association, stated, "We made significant efforts regarding the ordinary wage issue, but we could not reach an agreement. This will be a considerable burden for both labor and management. We were pressed for time and could not afford to restrict citizens' mobility due to a strike."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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