Last-minute negotiations between Gyeonggi bus labor and management extended until 3 a.m. tomorrow

The labor and management of 29 bus companies in Gyeonggi Province, which are on the verge of a general strike, decided to extend the deadline for labor dispute mediation until the early morning of the 30th and continue last-minute negotiations.

According to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the National Automobile Trade Union Federation, and the Gyeonggi Regional Automobile Workers' Union (hereinafter referred to as the union) on the 29th, labor and management agreed to extend the final adjustment deadline for the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission, which was scheduled to expire at midnight on the same day, by three hours until 3 a.m. on the 30th at the request of the management.

Accordingly, labor and management, which have been negotiating since 3 p.m. that day, plan to resume the meeting at 2 a.m. on the 30th after internal discussions after adjourning.

If the two sides are unable to reach an agreement by the extended deadline and mediation ultimately breaks down, the union will begin a full-scale general strike from the first day on the 30th, as announced.

The target of the strike is 4,130 buses (854 routes) belonging to 29 companies in the province, including Suwon, Yongin, Goyang, and Seongnam, including 942 buses on 63 routes that travel between Seoul and the metropolitan area.

Companies belonging to KD Transportation Group, the largest bus company in the province, were excluded because they were separately conducting their own negotiations.

Labor and management are engaged in a last-minute tug-of-war over the biggest issue: how to implement the agreement to reach equal pay for buses in Seoul by January 1, 2026.

Initially, the union had requested a wage increase of 21.56% for semi-public systems and 30% for private systems and a reduction in working hours, reflecting the aftermath of the ruling on the Seoul Bus regular wage lawsuit.

However, in the last-minute negotiations, it was reported that instead of taking a step back from this year's rate increase, a revised proposal was made in the direction of receiving confirmation of subsequent implementation.

The condition is that labor and management will jointly prepare an accurate wage gap calculation standard through external services and reflect it next year, and that equal pay will be applied accordingly once the results of the Seoul bus normal wage lawsuit, which is currently in the first trial, are confirmed in the future.

On the other hand, the company has shown difficulty due to the worsening financial conditions of Gyeonggi Province, and it is said that the difficulty continues as collateral at the provincial level is required for such follow-up implementation.

Gyeonggi Province, local governments, and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education plan to operate an emergency transportation headquarters in preparation for the breakdown of negotiations, deploy chartered and official buses to 160 major locations in the event of a strike, and implement measures such as allowing autonomous adjustment of school arrival and departure times at each level.