Seoul's city bus union sets 9 p.m. Tuesday deadline for strike

Seoul's unionized city bus workers have announced that they will extend their negotiations until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, after which they will initiate a general strike the following day if no resolution is reached. The dispute centers around the method of calculating the hourly wage rate, with the union proposing to include regular bonuses in ordinary wages and raising wages by 7.85 percent.

However, the bus companies and the Seoul city government have declined to accept this demand, asserting that it would amount to an approximately 16 percent wage increase. The union has threatened to commence the strike at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, with the first buses leaving for service, should an agreement not be reached by 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

Yoo Jae-ho, deputy secretary-general of the Seoul Bus Workers Union, clarified that the union is not specifically advocating for a 7.85 percent wage increase and would be open to an agreement if the 176 monthly work hour standard is acknowledged. Other regions have already implemented wage increases of over 5 percent.