Seoul Bus Transport Business Association maintains its position that it cannot accept union demands

The Seoul Bus Transport Business Association maintained its position that it could not accept the union's demands regarding wage increases and standards for calculating normal wages.

The Seoul Bus Transport Business Association, an organization of city bus operators, said in a statement released on the 10th, "In addition to the 1 trillion won ordinary wage lawsuit, the union is demanding an increase of 500 billion won this year," and added, "A strike will only attract criticism from citizens."

The Seoul Bus Workers' Union is urging that the 'standard time' for calculating normal wages be set at 176 hours and that the hourly wage be increased by 7.85%.

The smaller the standard time used to calculate the regular wage paid per hour, the higher the wage to be paid, which is advantageous to the union. The union proposes 209 hours.

The union estimated that the amount of lawsuits arising from 2020 to 2025 in relation to the standard time for calculating ordinary wages was around 1.214 trillion won.

In addition, if the hourly wage is increased by 7.85% as requested by the union and the standard time for calculating normal wages is applied to 176 hours, it will cost 539.4 billion won each year.

The union explained, “If 176 hours are set, a 16.44% wage increase will occur, separate from the wage increase.” The union explained, “An employee working in the No. 9 salary as of last year’s salary was 68.7 million won. If both the 7.85% wage increase and the normal wage increase (16.44%) based on 176 hours are applied, the annual salary will increase by 16.39 million won, earning more than 85.09 million won.”

In addition, the union emphasized that “we previously proposed a wage increase of 10.32% to the union,” and that the union proposal was by no means a wage freeze.

The union added that in the 9th wage negotiation last month, it proposed a wage increase of 10.32% through 'reorganization of the wage system to set the standard number of hours for calculating normal wages to 209 hours like other metropolitan cities.'

In particular, the union emphasized that 209 hours is the standard specified in the '(Revised) Labor-Management Guidance Guidelines for Normal Wages' prepared by the Ministry of Labor on February 2 last year after the Supreme Court's unanimous decision.

At the same time, he said, “If the court determines 176 hours, additional retroactive payment will be made, and if the court rules on 230 hours, the union also proposes to return and settle the additional payment.”

Previously, the Supreme Court overturned the case and sent it back to the Seoul High Court for only other aspects other than the original trial (second trial) decision that recognized the standard hours as 176 hours per month in the appeal trial of Dong-A Transportation's lawsuit against the company.

Regarding this, the union claims that the ruling has already been confirmed as the standard time of 176 hours, while the management counters that it is fighting to change the standard time to 209 or 230 hours in the retrial and that the ruling in this part has not been confirmed.

On this day, the union also emphasized, "Busan, Daegu, Incheon, and Ulsan have already agreed to a 10% increase in wages by reforming the wage system to 209 hours without a separate wage increase last year."

Regarding the strike scheduled for the 16th, the union said, "We will work closely with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to prepare alternative means of transportation," and added, "We will do our best to ensure that city buses can operate normally on some routes and sections."

He also warned, "If the union interferes with the normal operation of drivers who do not participate in the strike, we will quickly take action with the police and the Seoul Metropolitan Government to ensure that they are severely punished."